29th September 2023:  In Lissone, on the finish line on the Coppa Agostoni, Davide Formolo celebrates a solo victory, followed in second position by his team mate Marc Hirschi.

 

The double is the result of a perfect race for UAE Team Emirates, that animated the final part of the 195,7 km of the course which started and finished in Lissone.

At 60 km to go, Formolo took the head of the field with another 5 riders on the third passage of the Lissolo climb, then the breakaway was reduced to 4 cyclists who were joined by Marc Hirschi in the downhill after the last passage on Lissolo.

 

The head group came into to the final 30 km with two riders from the Emirati team, Victor Lafay (Cofidis), Warren Barguil (Arkéa Samsic) and Chris Harper (Jayco Alula) , followed at 1’ by another UAE Team Emirates’ member, Diego Ulissi.

 

Everyone’s eyes were on the fastest cyclist, Hirschi, so the Emirati team tried to exploit the situation with a diversion: Formolo attacked at 10 km to go and built up an interesting gap that none of his opponents could close until the arrival. The Italian rider gave the seasonal victory number 53 to UAE Team Emirates, that featured also three other results in the top 10: in addition to Hirschi (2nd) there were also Diego Ulissi (6th) and the 2022 edition winner Sjoerd Bax (9th)

 

Formolo: “I am very happy, I missed this winning feeling. I had the task of reducing the peloton as much as I could on the Lissolo and the selection brought me in the head group with other 4 riders. When Hirschi joined us, I focused my energy on keeping a high pace in order to benefit Marc for an eventual sprint. We noticed that the others were watching him, so we decided to try something: I attacked on the last hill and this was the winning move”.

 

1. Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates) 4h44’23”

2. Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) +32”

3. Victor Lafay (Cofidis) +51”

6. Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) +1’31“