Milan, 22 September 2016 - The Belgian Philippe Gilbert was victorious in 2009 and 2010 and the Italian Daniele Bennati in 2006 and 2008: both are chasing the trio of wins in this special edition of the GranPiemonte NamedSport - the hundredth - organised by RCS Sport/La Gazzetta dello Sport, in collaboration with the Region of Piedmont.
The two riders lead a squad of very aggressive contenders, such as the Belgian Jan Bakelants (winner of last year’s edition), the Colombian Fernando Gaviria, the Spaniard Mikel Landa, the Russian Alexander Kolobnev and the Italians Giovanni Visconti, Sonny Colbrelli, Sacha Modolo, Giacomo Nizzolo (this year’s winner of the Red Jersey at the Giro d’Italia and of the Coppa Bernocchi) and Filippo Ganna (individual pursuit World Champion). The latter two will race for the Italian national team.
THE COURSE The route is mostly flat. Starting in Diano d’Alba and running slightly uphill, the course drops into Alba and runs across part of the Po Plain and Montferrat. The first 160km run on flat, relatively wide roads, crossing a few city centres in-between – such as Asti, Casale Monferrato, Santhià and Ivrea. Past Ivrea, the route takes in the Alice Superiore climb (7km with an average 5% gradient) and heads for the final sector across Castellamonte and San Giorgio Canavese, leading to the finish slightly uphill until Piazza del Castello.
