The Adriatica Ionica Race, exciting first commitment after the Giro
III Adriatica Ionica Race
From 15 to 17 June
The COVID-19 pandemic absolutely conditioned the normal day-to-day running of 2020 and cycling, at all levels and for all disciplines, was no exception. The Adriatica Ionica Race was another of the races that was affected by this carousel of postponements and suspensions, a real pity as it was one of the new races that had made a name for itself the earliest. Perhaps because of its promoter, an icon of the sport such as Moreno Argentin, or perhaps because of its geographic scope and dates, but also undoubtedly because of its lack of complexes in its mountainous bets or the inclusion of the sterrato, the Adriatica Ionica Race enjoyed a good media projection with only two editions held.
The EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team will take part in the third edition in 2021. The ProTeam structure of the Contador Foundation faces its first competition after its great performance in the Giro d’Italia and does so with renewed ambitions to do well and get good results. At the head of the team will be Lorenzo Fortunato, winner on Monte Zoncolan. Alongside the rider from Bologna, also after a great Giro d’Italia, is Vincenzo Albanese. Italians Luca Pacioni and Luca Wackermann and Spaniards Sergio García, Alejandro Ropero and Diego Pablo Sevilla complete the team’s seven.
At the end of the first two editions, Trieste will now host the grand finale of an edition with fewer days, and therefore fewer kilometres, which will cross the geographies of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. If the Passo Giau was its grand finale in 2018 and the Three Tops of Lavaredo in 2019, for this occasion the baton will be taken up by Monte Grappa (1,712 m). The great climb, famous for the ossuary built between 1932 and 1935 for the repose of the soldiers who fell during the First World War, will be fundamental to the resolution of the overall.
The Grappa and its almost 20 kilometres of climbing at an average gradient of 8% will arrive on Wednesday. What happens there will be important to know the identity of the cyclist who will take over from Iván Ramiro Sosa (2018) and Mark Padun (2019). Although the final stage includes a double passage through three sterrato sectors, 15 kilometres in total on this surface, and the white roads are a terrain for uncertainty.
Expected by all, after the wonderful Giro d’Italia, here is Lorenzo Fortunato: “I came out of the Giro very well, in the last week on the climbs I was really good so the goal is to reconfirm myself on the climbs and to make the rankings, since there will be the arrival on Monte Grappa which is very suitable for me”.
In good shape after competing with the Spanish national team in two races of the UCI Nations Cup, one of them the demanding Course de la Paix, the Andalusian Sergio García arrives. “After some time without competing with the team, I am looking forward to the Adriatica Ionica Race. And even more so after seeing the good performance of my team-mates in the Giro d’Italia. It’s a plus of motivation to give my best in every stage. Besides being looking forward to racing, I also want to see what level I’m at after this period of racing with the national team”.
The stages.
15 June: Trieste – Aviano (185.3 km).
16th June: Vittorio Veneto – Monte Grappa (148.2 km).
17th June: Ferrara – Comacchio (157.5 km).
