Preview Tre Valli Varesine 2023 | Once again Roglic against Pogacar!

On Monday, the peloton competed in the Coppa Bernocchi, but they won't have to travel far for Tuesday's race: Tre Valli Varesine, loosely translated as 'Three Valleys.' This is where the majority of the race will unfold, starting in Busto Arsizio and concluding in Varese. Last year, the organization had the honor of hosting Tadej Pogacar, one of the greatest cyclists in the history of the sport, who is returning to defend his title.

In the previous year, Alessandro de Marchi claimed victory in the race, while recent history has seen the likes of Primoz Roglic, Sonny Colbrelli, and Vincenzo Nibali among the list of winners!

2022 Tadej Pogacar
2021 Alessandro de Marchi
2020 Not ridden
2019 Primoz Roglic
2018 Toms Skujins
2017 Alexandre Geniez
2016 Sonny Colbrelli
2015 Vincenzo Nibali
2014 Michael Albasini
2013 Kristijan Durasek

Tre Valli Varesine is a race that, in keeping with its name "Race of the Three Valleys," is divided into three distinct segments. It commences in Busto Arsizio, and from there, the route proceeds toward Varese. In Varese, we encounter two local circuits, each of which must be completed eight and two times, respectively.

As always, these circuits present significant elevation changes, with climbs like Casbeno (2.5 kilometers at 4.9 percent) and Montello (2 kilometers at 5.2 percent) on the first lap, and Morosolo (1.6 kilometers at 7.8 percent) and Casciago (1.6 kilometers at 5 percent) on the second local lap.

Even after the final ascent of Casciago, there remain ten kilometers to the finish line, but don't be misled: the terrain continues to rise, especially in the last five kilometers, before the final kilometer takes a slightly downhill trajectory toward Varese. It's worth noting that Varese hosted the World Cycling Championships in 2008, with Alessandro Ballan emerging as the eventual champion.

Weather
Nude summer in Italy! The sun will also be shining in northern Italy on Tuesday, where temperatures are expected to be around 27 degrees Celsius. There's hardly any wind and no chance of precipitation, so the riders won't have to worry about that.

Times
Start: noon
Finish: about 4:40 p.m.

As for the favorites for Tre Valli Varesine, the Giro dell'Emilia is a very good indicator: on Saturday, Primoz Roglic, who is leaving Jumbo-Visma, won the race in Bologna, making him the top favorite for the race towards Varese. With Wout van Aert as an additional competitor, JJumbo-Visma will also have an extra card to play in what is likely the final race where Roglic and Van Aert will compete together. Add to that types like Attila Valter and Tiesj Benoot and you're talking about a top team!

They will need that at Richard Plugge's team, as rival Tadej Pogacar will also travel to northern Italy. The Slovenian's riders include Adam Yates, Juan Ayuso, Davide Formolo and Rafal Majka, so that bodes well for an impressive duel at team level;

Not all the participants are known yet, but based on the results of the Giro dell'Emilia, we can already get a partial idea of who will be there in Tuesday's final. Then you're talking about, say Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Enric Mas (Movistar) and Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA-hansgrohe), all guys who also colored Saturday's final.

Tre Valli Varesine is a bit less selective, though, so that offers prospects for other guys as well. Rappier guys like Andrea Bagioli (Soudal Quick-Step) and Alex Aranburu (Movistar) may gamble more on their fast legs here, while say Warren Barguil (Arkéa Samsic) en Romain Bardet (DSM-firmenich) may opt for an attack attempt. Furthermore, we do not want to take away the names of Felix Gall, Ben O'Connor and Andrea Vendame (AG2R Citroën) in different scenarios.

Other outsiders based on the provisional start list include Jésus Herrada (Cofidis), Simone Velasco (Astana), Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek) and surely Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quick-Step.

Top favorites: Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates)
Outsiders: Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla), Adam Yates (UAE-Team Emirates) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost)
Longshots: Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma), Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA-hansgrohe), Warren Barguil (Arkéa Samsic), Romain Bardet (DSM-firmenich), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Enric Mas, Alex Aranburu (Movistar) and Andrea Bagioli (Soudal Quick-Step)

Tre Valli Varesine can be followed from 3 p.m. on Eurosport: the sports channel will be there Tuesday on the online platforms Eurosport.co.uk, Discovery+ and GCN+ at.