Primož Roglič stamped his dominance on yet another race as he overpowered Adam Yates in an uphill sprint to the line at the 2021 Milano-Torino.
Roglič becomes the first Slovenian to win the Italian Classic finishing atop the Superga climb, taking his 60th career win.
Six riders got into the early break but that was all brought back together by a select group of star riders who had pushed on in the last 50km in the crosswinds.
The group of riders had the likes of Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) being just some of the names in there.
More riders did join the leading group as others were dropped with Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) being one of the riders able to bridge back across.
Yates looked superbly strong on the final climb dropping everyone but Roglič.
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How it happened
The day started just outside the city of Milan in the town of Magenta before the riders took on the 190km route that took them to the city of Turin and onto the Superga climb, which was taken on twice with the second time being the summit finish.
Six riders got up the road and pulled out a gap of just over three minutes on the peloton. The riders were Devin Vermaerke (DSM), Davide Orrico (Vini Zabu), Joan Bou (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Juri Zanotti (Bardiani), Mattia Frapporti (EOLO-Kometa) and Oier Lazkano (Caja-Rural).
Lazkano likely wanted to put on a show after it was announced he will be joining Movistar Team for the 2022 season.
(Image credit: Milano-Torino)
The break was caught with 50km to go with Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Tadej Pogačar (UAE team Emirates), Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), João Almeida (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Chris Froome (Israel Start-Up Nation), Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) plus 18 others.
This came about as teams worked hard to split the race in the crosswinds, with echelons being created and the gap quickly went out to 47 seconds with Ineos Grenadiers, Arkéa-Samsic and Trek-Segafredo working hard to bring it back after missing the move.
Fausto Masnada blitzed the lead group as he upped the pace for his leaders of Alaphilippe and Almeida with the likes of Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) and Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) tried a move up to the leaders.
Masnada then pushed on solo, forcing the other teams to chase. Yates bridged across to the leaders after putting in an immense effort after dropping Quintana with 21km to go.
Masnada was brought back by Rafał Majka (UAE Team Emirates) with Ben Hermans (Israel Start-Up Nation) helping. Quintana joined the leaders with 20km to go along with Ineos Grenadiers’ Pavel Sivakov and Michael Storer (DSM). David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) also got across.
The next two riders to manage to bridge across were Matteo Fabbro (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech) with Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) leading a small group across to the leaders.
Mauri Vansevenant was the next Deceuninck - Quick-Step rider to launch a move onto the descent after the first ascent of the Superga climb.
He hit the final ascent with 4.9km to go and a gap of 25 seconds as Ineos Grenadiers and UAE Team Emirates led onto the climb just behind. Majka put in such a hard pace that he got a slight gap with Alaphilippe but then both riders went into the red and dropped.
Yates took over the pacing with Pogačar on the wheel with 4km to go as he brought Vansevenant back. Yates upped the pace again with Woods, Pogačar, Almeida, Roglič and Valverde all sat in on the Brit’s wheel.
Woods and Valverde were the first to crack with Pogačar and Almeida starting to show some weakness with 3km to go as only Roglič was able to follow Yates. Almeida got back on along with Pogačar as the race was down to four riders.
Yates then kicked again and dropped everyone, quickly putting in a good gap to the other riders. But, suddenly, Roglič found something else and he flew across the gap of around 14 seconds.
Roglič then started to come through and set the tempo with Yates with 2km to go but he had a grimace plastered across his face.
Pogačar and Almeida were still fighting behind at 19 seconds. Pogačar managed to drop Almeida with 1.5km to go as the gradient continued to bite. They never made it back to the front but did come back together.
Yates tried one more time in the final 600 metres to drop Roglič once and for all. He got two bike lengths but then Roglič got out of the saddle and got the legs pumping onto the British rider's wheel before kicking around him and soloing to the line, winning by 12 seconds.
Almeida managed to beat his future team-mate, Pogačar, to third in a mad dash to the line between the two.
All the riders now look towards Saturday, October 9 and the final Monument of the season, Il Lombardia with one more Italian race to come before that, looking at the sprinters and punchers at Grand Piemonte on Thursday, October 7.
Milano-Torino 2021: Magenta to Torino (190km)
1. Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma, in 4-17-41
2. Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenaiders, at 12s
3. João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, 35s
4. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, at same time
5. Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation, at 48s
6. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
7. Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
8. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step
9. Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkéa-Samsic, all at same time
10. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Team Movistar, at 56s.
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