This morning, Varese hosted one of the final races of the season, the 6th edition of the Tre Valli Varesine Women's Race. Prior to the start, a guard of honor was formed to celebrate four riders bringing their careers to a close: Amanda Spratt, Sofia Bertizzolo, Claire Steels, and Alexis Magner.
After just a few kilometers, a trio of riders broke away from the peloton: Katharina Palm, Fariba Hashimi, and Linda Zanetti. The three quickly built a five-minute lead over the bunch, but their advantage plummeted as soon as the favorites' teams took control of the chase.
During the third of six laps on the circuit, featuring the climbs of Montello (1 km at 6.6%) and Ronchi (2.8 km at 5.2%), a ten-rider counter-attack snapped off the front of the peloton and rapidly bridged across to the breakaway. Among them were high-profile names such as Karlijn Swinkels, Amber Kraak, Loes Adegeest, and Nikola Nosková. On the penultimate ascent of Montello, Swinkels launched a sharp acceleration with only Nosková able to follow, while Visma and EF took charge of the pursuit back in the main group.
Entering the final lap, the lead duo still held a 50" buffer over the chasers, who were already within sight of the peloton. Over the closing loop, the gap shrank dramatically, largely thanks to an impressive shift by Femke De Vries, who drove the pace at the front of the bunch for over 10 km. The breakaway held out until the final km before being caught.
At that point, UAE, boasting four riders in the elite group of fifteen, set up their lead-out train, with Silvia Persico launching Eleonora Gasparrini. The young Italian, a podium finisher at Milano-Sanremo, kicked off her sprint 200 meters from the line to claim a decisive victory, the first of her season, ahead of Sarah van Dam and Noemi Rüegg.
FINISHING ORDER
1. Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ)
2. Sarah van Dam
3. Noemi Rüegg