Tommaso Bessega’s great volata in Nerviano: fourth place in the sprint of the Coppa Caduti

Without the final competition of Luca Bagnara, out of cycling due to the confirmation of a scaphoid fracture that will keep him out for about a month, the 2023 edition of the Coppa Caduti of Nerviano was held this festive Tuesday in Italy with a predictable development, the pulse between the breakaway and the peloton at a very high pace all day, and unexpected prominence for a tremendous storm that appeared with the wind with the race in its last 40 kilometres. The victory, in a crowded volata, went to Samuel Quaranta (Colpack), but it was also brilliant the sprint of the very young Tommaso Bessega, first year in the category, to come close to the podium with a remarkable fourth position.

Very fast, with an average of over 46 km/h, the Lombardy race saw a succession of accelerations in search of the breakaway of the day. In the first kilometres, the number of riders in the breakaway was successive, four riders, then nine, then six, then five, and finally six riders in a breakaway that took more than 60 kilometres to consolidate. And always with contained margins, slightly over a minute. With the onset of rain, a regrouping took place. And despite some later movement and a split of the big group, mass sprint for which the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team team worked hard for Tommaso’s options.

“It was a good day,” said Edoardo Alleva. “We rode all day very close together in order to prepare Tommaso for the finish and the plan went well, without complications”. “The race had a very high pace throughout the day”, Tommaso himself pointed out. “The whole team kept me covered for most of the day. Thirty kilometres from the end it started to hail, and we stayed in the leading group for about fifty kilometres. In the final part of the day my team-mates did the ‘treno’ to prepare for my sprint. In the end I finished fourth, but I want to thank the whole team for their work”.

[? Coppa Caduti / @elenadivincenzo (1, 2)]