The road season truly comes to an end this weekend. But before the void definitively begins, Sunday still offers races to enjoy in the Netherlands, China, France, and Italy. In the latter country, the Veneto Classic takes place. In the absence of UAE Emirates heavy hitters Tadej Pogacar and Isaac Del Toro, who have both already concluded their seasons, it promises to be an exciting race. One more time to enjoy! Cyclingflash looks ahead.
| Year | Winner |
|---|---|
| 2025 |  Sakarias Koller Loland |
| 2024 |  Magnus Cort Nielsen |
| 2023 |  Davide Formolo |
| 2022 |  Marc Hirschi |
| 2021 | Samuele Battistella |
Veneto ClassicSoaveBassano del GrappaAs mentioned in the introduction, Tadej Pogacar and Isaac Del Toro will not participate in the Veneto Classic. They ended their seasons with victories in the Giro di Lombardia and the Giro del Veneto, respectively. Yet UAE Emirates XRG will start on Sunday with a strong lineup. The team from the Emirates fields Florian Vermeersch, Alessandro Covi, Tim Wellens, Pablo Torres, António Morgado, and Pavel Sivakov (second in the Giro del Veneto) . Can they leverage their depth?
XDS Astana will also aim to create a numerical advantage in the final. With riders like Diego Ulissi, Simone Velasco, Clément Champoussin, and Christian Scaroni, they have the firepower to achieve this. On paper, Scaroni is the main asset of the Kazakh team. The Italian has already won five times this year and recorded numerous (short) podium finishes.
UAE riders like Sivakov can take their own chances again – photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos
The runner-up of the 2024 Veneto Classic, Romain Grégoire, will also be present. It's nice to see: the Frenchman will be supported at Groupama-FDJ by his 19-year-old brother Baptiste, who recently finished ninth in the Giro di Lombardia U23. Fabio Christen will not meet his brother Jan Christen in the peloton, but the Swiss rider from Q36.5 can also achieve a fine result. We definitely consider the fourth-place finisher of the Gran Piemonte.
The same goes for Davide Piganzoli. The 23-year-old Italian, who will ride for Visma | Lease a Bike from next year, is quietly having an excellent autumn. Will there be a real breakthrough at the last moment on Sunday? Alex Aranburu seems to have peaked after a long season, yet we should not underestimate the Spaniard on such a course. Cofidis also brings Dylan Teuns to the start, but given his recent performances (and essentially throughout the year), Jenno Berckmoes has a better chance of a top result representing Belgium.
The complete start list for the Veneto Classic is not yet known. Therefore, changes can still be made in the favorites section. If a start list becomes available in time, we will update and revise this part of the preview later on.
Romain Grégoire could well become the main challenger to Del Toro – photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos
Veneto Classic| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 04:24:02 | |
| 2 | + 17 | |
| 3 | + 19 | |
| 4 | + 20 | |
| 5 | + 21 | |
| 6 | + 23 | |
| 7 | + 39 | |
| 8 | + 41 | |
| 9 | + 49 | |
| 10 | + 54 |
Veneto Classic
