Hirschi podiums at Veneto Classic

UAE Team Emirates brought an end to the 2021 road calendar with 2nd place at the Veneto Classic in Italy.

The Emirati squad were in a commanding position for much of the day over the 207km from Venice to Bassano del Grappa, pulling the peloton along until the final 50km where the race began to heat up.

At around -35km Trentin went clear with Samuele Battistella (Astana) over the climb of Marostica and the two worked well to hold a 25’’ lead over the chasers.

There was drama for Matteo Trentin with 22km to go, when a touch of wheels saw him go down and forced to drop back to the chasing group which contained Ulissi, Hirschi and Davide Formolo.

Thanks to some tireless work from Formolo the gap to Battistella was reduced leading into the final climb at 8.4km to go, though despite attacks from Hirschi and Ulissi they were unable to bring back the lone leader, with Hirschi winning the sprint behind and Ulissi coming home in 6th.

 
Hirschi : “In the end it was a pity that Trentin crashed from what turned out to be the winning move. I was a few seconds behind Battistella who we couldn’t quite close down on the last climb so we were sprinting for 2nd place. I’m pleased with the result but for sure with this team and the riders we have here the goal was to win. It was a nice race but we just missed our goal of the win, but in general we can be pleased.”

 
The Veneto Classic brings an end to the 2021 road season as the team bring down the curtain on what has been a hugely successful year.

Results

1.Samuele Battistella (Astana) 5:01:50
2.Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) +5’’
3.Jhonathan Restrepo (Androni) +5’’
6. Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) +26’’