With Tuesday's edition, the Tre Valli Varesine It joins the ranks of races that are over a hundred years old, a club that is still quite small considering the enormous number of races held throughout the world. Since 1919, it has been a custom for enthusiasts to tackle a classic route drawn between the three main valleys of the area: Valcuvia, Valganna and Valtravaglia.
The race was not held three times: in 1943 and '44 when the war events following the Armistice of September 8 made it impossible to organize the race and just last year, in the midst of the spread of Covid. It's true that many early autumn 2020 races were held, most of them rescheduled for the first half of the year (the Giro d'Italia first and foremost). Finding a suitable date wasn't easy, but on the other hand, in Varese, during those sad days, there were other things to think about. The last time, in 2019, Primoz Roglic won and at the start were Vincenzo Nibali in the Bahrain jersey, Alejandro Valverde, Spanish champion, Davide Formolo wearing the Italian tricolor and Mads Pedersen, fresh from the rainbow jersey in Harrogate (opening photo).
Paradoxically, The latest terrible virus has succeeded where the Spanish flu failed, rapidly spreading throughout the world in the very years of the birth of the Tre Valli, but it's also true that the cycling world at the time was very different, with few enthusiasts and, above all, decidedly anti-global. Suffice it to say that a foreign winner of the Lombard race would have to wait until 1957, when the Belgian Germain triumphed. Derycke.
From Bestetti to Roglic, always a spectacle
Anyone who thinks, given the geographical location of the Varese province, that it will be a flat race with a long wait for the sprint with a compact group is very wrong. Throughout its history, the Tre Valli has always been able to provide entertainment and excitement. It is practically impossible to consider the solution of the race in advance, since its inaugural edition went to Pierino Bestetti.
Retracing 100 years of racing in a quick journey, the first success of bartali in '38 at the end of a 4-man breakaway. Then Fausto's victory Coppi ten years later, he beat Bartali in a nine-man sprint; Coppi again in '55, the only edition where the Tre Valli was transformed into a 100-kilometer individual time trial.
From left: Secondo Magni and Gino Bartali, third and first in '38 Saronni's third success in 1980 Gianni Motta triumphs in 1965, the first of his four successes Nibali watches his back: he won alone in 2015
From left: Secondo Magni and Gino Bartali, third and first in '38 Saronni's third success in 1980 Gianni Motta triumphs in 1965, the first of his four successes Nibali watches his back: he won alone in 2015
Since 2017 it has been a foreign fiefdom
Coming to more recent times, two champions have distinguished the Tre Valli by obtaining the record of victories, as many as 4. Gianni Motta He scored 3 in a row, from 1965 to '67 with the addition of 1970. Giuseppe saroni wins in '77, '79 and '80 and then in 1988. Of the current champions, Vincenzo Nibali He signed the 2015 edition with one of his moves, anticipating the group by 8". A tactic quite similar to that of the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, outgoing champion who in 2019 preceded by 3" the sprint of the "survivors" won by Giovanni Visconti.
It must be said that even if Tre Valli remains a national stronghold with 86 Italian victories against only 13 foreign ones, an Italian success has been missing since 2017: in that year the Frenchman Alexandre won genius, the year after the Latvian Tom Skuijns, in both cases preceding the other transalpine Thibaut Pinot who usually pulls something good out of his hat at the end of the season.
The big news of 2021
Until the last century, The Tre Valli together with the other classics of the Lombard Trittico (Coppa Agostoni and Coppa Bernocchi) was the decisive phase for the Italian preparation towards the World Championships, then the calendars were remodeled and now those who race in Varese think of the Lombardy as the culmination of the seasonal phase, putting into play the remaining energy available.
Meanwhile, however, Tre Valli Varesine has been changing its skin in recent years, becoming a brand that addresses the world of cycling as a whole: the Little Three Valleys of Varese, the Under 23 competition has existed for 44 years, the most recent is the Granfondo for amateurs which celebrated its 5th anniversary today, while the new feature for 2021 is the birth of the women's test, combined with that of professionals. Sc Alfredo Binda's portfolio of offerings is increasingly broad.
