Male Team 11 Oct
Gran Piemonte
191 Kilometers
Following a 2017 edition of the race which actually became the Italian Road Race Championships, with a much hillier route seeing Fabio Aru take his national bands and -reasonably- not allowing the Movistar Team presenting a full squad, the Telefónica-backed team will be back this year to the Gran Piemonte (Thursday 11th October), a race with over 100 editions and a route designed to offer the sprinters one of their final chances this season in Europe.
The route is particularly flat. It’s a 191km race between Racconigi, with its spectacular Castle, made part of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites, and the little village of Stupinigi, a locality inside Turin’s Nichelino, with no major hills in between. There’s only one significant ascent to Sella La Rezza, located around 50km from the start, and followed by a series of long, flat roads which shouldn’t be able to avoid -barring any splits, crashes or crosswinds- a bunch kick at the end.