Podium finish for Casper van Uden at Milano Torino

The oldest race in the calendar, Milano Torino rolled out in relatively calm conditions compared to what the peloton has been subjected to in Europe over the past few weeks. The calmness of the weather was also reflected in the action for the first hour of the race as a breakaway of six riders established an advantage at the front of the race.

This soon changed heading after around 50 kilometres of racing though as a small chase group formed including Moritz Kärsten, with the breakaway around 2’50” ahead. This split didn’t last and the peloton set about working to bring the break back over the second half of the 192 kilometres parcours with Team DSM adding firepower to the chase.

With 125km complete the gap was down to 1’40”, then under 1′ with 35 kilometres to race. The race was eventually all back together with 17 kilometres to go and from here the leadouts started. Team DSM did a great job in controlling the front of the race and keeping Casper van Uden in position heading towards the finish before dropping him off in the final few hundred metres. He bided his time before unleashing a powerful finishing sprint, crossing the line in third place.

After the race, Casper van Uden commented: “It was really good today. We wanted to take control today and ride our own race and I think we did just that. The boys did really good work and we took the race into our own hands. In the final it started to get really hectic but we came quite early and chose our side and the boys kept me in front. We lost each other for a bit, but everyone worked fast to find each other again for the run into the last corner, where Alex and I took it first and second so we could ride our own lines which was good. I came to the front quite early but was able to go full gas and started my sprint after the last corner. It was good enough for third place and it was nice to give the boys and everyone back at HQ a podium, so that’s really good.”

Team DSM coach Luke Roberts added: “We went into the race very ambitions today, aiming for the win and had a strong team for a sprint. It was quite nervous in the beginning with the wind but the boys did a good job all day looking after each other staying up the front out of trouble. Coming into the finale we tried to hold that position as best as possible. It got quite messy with around 7 kilometres to go with the roundabouts and a small crash saw us broken up but the guys found each other again for the critical point and could set Casper up quite well for the final. All in all, it was a good effort from the guys and the team in general and we’re happy to have a podium result to top it off.”