Gran Piemonte 2025

October 9, 2025 Gran Piemonte rounds out the week of one day racing in Piedmont and Lombardy before the big one on Saturday. Starting in Dogliani, the 179KM course skirts the Ligurian Alps through the famous wine region of Barolo to take in three climbs, each around 4KM at 5%. The race enters the Bormida and Erro River valley by way of the Rocchetta Pelafea, a 2.7KM climb at 8.4%. At the top of the Rocchetta Pelafea with 71KM to go, the riders descend for 12KM where they enter the Acqui Terme circuit in Terzo for 3/4 of the lap. Halfway around the circuit is the Castelletto d'Erro, a 6KM climb at 5% with the first 2.5KM at 9%. A passage through Acqui Terme will give the riders the bell for one lap and 33KM to go and another time up the Castelletto d'Erro before the finish. It was another glorious Autumn day in Northern Italy. Seven riders made the break after 25KM of racing including Jan Tratnik of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Ådne Holter of Uno-X Mobility, Quinten Hermans of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Victor Langellotti of Ineos, Jasha Sütterlin of Jayco AlUla, Matteo Trentin of Tudor Pro Cycling, and Odd Christian Eiking of Unibet-Tietema Rockets. With 58KM to go on the entrance to the circuit, only Tratnik, Holter, and Hermans were still at the front with the peloton holding at 2 minutes under the pressure of UAE-XRG. The fight into the Castelletto d'Erro was fierce because of the steep slopes and the narrow road which was only wide enough for a single car. Movistar and XDS-Astana won the position with Ineos and Bahrain Victorious just behind. It wasn't long before UAE-XRG got the front but it was a stop-start effort. EF-Education EasyPost put in a few probing moves and as the road flattened a little, Jardi Van Der Lee finally got away and brought Eddie Dunbar of Jayco AlUla with him. UAE-XRG ran out of resources and Isaac del Toro decided to close the gap himself. A new group formed with Marc Hirschi of Tudor Pro Cycling, Einer Rubio and Lorenzo Milesi of Movistar, Bauke Mollema of Lidl-Trek, Ion Izagirre of Cofidis, and Van Der Lee. At the top with 46KM to go, the new chase group was 45 seconds behind the three leaders and around 15 seconds up on the peloton. Tratnik, Holter, and Hermans took the bell with 33KM to go, 40 seconds ahead of the Hirschi chase group and 1 minute 15 seconds ahead of the UAE-XRG led peloton. The gap was creeping out with just Pavel Sivakov riding in the peloton so XDS-Astana came to lend a hand. By the time the leaders hit Castelletto d'Erro for the last time at 20KM to go, the race was closing in. The chase was just 15 seconds behind but, more importantly, the peloton were at 40 seconds thanks mostly to XDS-Astana. Del Toro couldn't wait and risk having tactics play out against him so he accelerated early on the climb and broke away from the peloton. Hirschi was the strongest from the front group and went passed Tratnik, Holter, and Hermans. He surely felt the pressure of del Toro coming up behind and had to get as far up the climb as he could before being caught. Just passed the steepest section, del Toro caught up with Mollema who was second on the road and the Dutchman was able to latch on as the gradients eased. Mollema, Hirschi, and del Toro were together with 18KM to go and just over 3.5KM to the top of Castelletto d'Erro. Del Toro took a moment to catch his breath and then attacked. Mollema was able to stay with him for about 200M but he had to sit down and a gap formed to del Toro. Hirschi and Mollema teamed up but by the top, del Toro had pulled out 30 seconds. Del Toro flew down the descent and time trialed back into Acqui Terme to take his fifteenth win of the season. Mollema and Hirschi worked like teammates to stay away from a larger chase group of around 20 riders. Mollema led Hirschi into the last 150M when he opened up the sprint. Hirschi was straight onto the wheel came around to take second place with Mollema, rolling back the years, to third on the day.