Trek Factory Racing played a perfect race at the Italian classic Tre Valli Varesine Wednesday but was beaten by an unstoppable and on-form Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) who soloed the final three kilometers to take the victory. 

Giacomo Nizzolo sprinted to third after a late attack from Rusvelo’s Sergei Firsanov saw him just hold off the small chase group to snag second place. Fabio Felline was also in the mix, finishing an impressive fifth after giving all his energy to try and keep everything intact for a sprint finish. (Both Nizzolo and Felline had just returned to Italy after the World Championships road race in Richmond Sunday, where they both played instrumental parts in the Italian team, and Nizzolo was the highest finisher for Italy in 18th place.)

“Honestly, it was impossible to beat Nibali,” explained director Adriano Baffi after the race. “Giacomo was impressive! He was the only one who could initially stay with the attack of Nibali on the last climb.  When you saw that you could say that first place was impossible.

“I said to the guys that there were two main goals today: one is to be present in the race and be good in the finale, and the main goal, of course, is victory. We reached the first goal - in the end on the last time up the steep climb we still had four riders (FränkSchleck, Julian Arredondo, Fabio Felline and Giacomo Nizzolo) - and the second one was impossible, we simply could not play for the first today, so we have to be happy.”

The 198.5-kilometer one-day classic culminated with nine laps of a 12.8-kilometer circuit that included the short, steep Montello climb at the start of the loop, and a two-kilometer ascent that topped out at the flamme rouge with a flat final thousand-meter run-in.

Team Astana played their hand for Nibali, creating a hard finale with plenty of attacks and fast pace setting on the climbs while Trek Factory Racing battled hard for Giacomo Nizzolo in hope of a sprint finish.  It was a fierce fight between the two ProTeams with Schleck and Arredondo working first to nullify any antagonists, and Felline throwing his might into the last crucial kilometers.

It was no secret when Nibali made his move on the final uphill three kilometers from the end, and Nizzolo attentively marked his wheel. As Nibali accelerated Nizzolo was the only man to momentarily grab his wheel, but on the uphill he was unable to match his force and Nibali pulled away for the win.

A tired Felline, who had already closed many gaps, dug deep into his reserves and led the chase behind, before launching a last-ditch effort to try and close the gap to two chasers who had surged ahead on the uphill.

“When Nibali attacked on the final climb, for a few hundred meters I was alone with him and for my characteristic that is a really good sign. Once he dropped me, which you could say was normal, 10 or so guys caught me. Two guys attacked in the last kilometers," Nizzolo said.

“Then Fabio tried by himself in the last kilometer, but when he was caught back he again pulled for me as hard as he could for a lead out. I really would like to thank Fabio for his great job.”

Felline was unable to stay clear, but continued his effort all the way to the line, giving a fantastic leadout for Nizzolo, who overtook one of the late attackers and finished on the heels of Firsanov for third place.  Felline held on for fifth.

“I am quite happy, today my feeling was really, really, really good,” continued Nizzolo. “In the middle of the race I saw there was not a lot of control by the teams and I tried to go in an attack with 12 riders, and [Fabio] Aru was there too, but then they caught us back. I decided then to wait for the finale, and we were only 20 riders left.

“With the profile of this race I am super happy with my performance and also the result. It was really hard to do something more today – almost impossible I can say.”