Coppa Bernocchi - GP Banco BPM 2025

October 6, 2025 The Coppa Bernocchi starts in Legnano, about halfway in between Milan and Verese, and is the tamest of all of the one-day Italian classics that lead into Il Lombardia. The 192KM course is like a lollipop with the first 30KM heading North to find the circuit which circumnavigates the Parco Rile Tenore Olona eight times before coming back the way they came, along the Olona River, for the finish. The circuit is comprised of two climbs, the first being San Pancrazio, a 550M kicker at 8%. The San Pancrazio is followed by the 'very' Piccolo Stelvio which is 1.6KM at 7%. The run back to Legnano for the finish is shorter, at 22KM, but is still a long way to go. A reduced sprint is likely given the difficulty of the circuit and the long flat roads to the finish. Before the start, Giacomo Nizzolo of Q36.5 was given a farewell by his peers as the Coppa Bernocchi was going to be the final race of his long and successful career. The temperature was a perfect 21C (70F) in Legnano and the riders got through KM0 under cloudless skies. Gianni Vermeersch of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Ethan Hayter of Soudal Quickstep, Xabier Azparren of Q36.5, Joel Suter of Tudor Pro Cycling, and Samuel Quaranta of MBH Bank Ballan CSB made up the early break but they were caught and with 64KM to go, the peloton was active and attacks were flying. Around 30 riders were 20 seconds ahead of the peloton but the groups were constantly changing composition. A group of five went clear including Michael Matthews of Jayco AlUla, Sepp Kuss of Visma-Lease a Bike, Benjamin Thomas of Cofidis, Albert Withen Philipsen of Lidl-Trek, and Jordan Labrosse of Decathlon AG2R. With 55.5KM to go, they started the San Pancrazio climb with 20 seconds on the first chase group and 40 seconds on the rest of the peloton. 5KM later, the race was closing in. The peloton and the chase group came together and the five leaders had 30 seconds as they began the Piccolo Stelvio for the penultimate time. Jay Vine of UAE-XRG pulled seven other riders away with him including Vincenzo Albanese and Mikkel Honoré of EF-Education EasyPost, Andrea Bagioli of Lidl-Trek, Natnael Tesfatsion of Movistar, Bjorn Koerdt of Picnic-PostNL, Matthew Brennan of Visma-Lease a Bike, and Quinten Hermans of Alpecin-Deceuninck. The Vine group lost all cohesion and Brennan and Hermans attacked. Brennan and Hermans bridged up to the five leaders to make seven but on the last time up the Piccolo Stelvio, Vine chased down the front group and brought along everyone but Tesfatsion from group two to make a large lead group of twelve with the peloton 1 minute behind and 32KM remaining. Uno-X Mobility and Bahrain Victorious got organized and formed a strong chase from the peloton which was around 70 riders strong. Movistar, Decathlon AG2R, and Soudal Quickstep all joined in the chase and with 15KM to go, the gap was down to 30 seconds. The gap came down second by second and the catch was finally made with 2KM to go and very little time to organize a lead out. Alessandro Covi of UAE-XRG and Quinn Simmons of Lidl-Trek immediately sent a flyer to take advantage of the disorganization. The move looked promising but they were dragged back with 500M to go as Polti-VisitMalta came up with their lead out for Giovanni Lonardi. Lonardi got swarmed at 250M to go as Dorian Godon of Decathlon AG2R started his sprint on one side and Tobias Lund Andresen of Picnic-PostNL went on the other. It was a drag race between the two and a photo finish on the line. It was a half a wheel in the end for Godon which gave the French National Champion the win. Lonardi was quick enough to take the last podium spot in third place.