Today Pogacar, Evenepoel and Roglic start. Bernocchi to Van Tricht. A stellar Tre Valli

With the big names thinking mostly about training, the Bernocchi Cup becomes a business for those who don't often have the chance to win. Like Stan Van Tricht, a 25-year-old Belgian raised in the same Dutch nursery where the Italians Affini and Frigo blossomed: in Legnano he celebrated his first time as a pro by beating in a sprint the Frenchman Baudin, the Spaniard Adrià and the other four who remained with him after a day in the breakaway, which began after 25 kilometers of racing.

Among these, the only one of ours is the very good Alessandro Pinarello, who finishes seventh and very tired: at 21 years old, the talent of the Reverberi college gets his best result in a top-tier race. Few traces of the big guns: Evenepoel puts his head out for thirty kilometers with Hirschi halfway through the race trying to chase the escapees, Roglic doesn't even do that.

A very different test awaits them today in the third act of the Lombard triptych, the Tre Valli Varesine. It is the hardest, and not only for an electrocardiogram-shaped route that in 200 kilometers distributes a difference in altitude of 3.300 meters: here of calibers there is the biggest of all, Tadej Pogacar.

In other times, it would have been a test on the road to Lombardia on Saturday, but knowing the nature of the Slovenian, who does not run just to participate, expecting another show like in Emilia is not unthinkable. Moreover, in the three previous races in this race, the world champion has never left the top five, winning two years ago: in short, the accounts will be made with him again.

With Evenepoel and Roglic, other noble names such as Pidcock, Mas and Bardet, all with their heads in Lombardy, will fill the roster, as well as former winners of the Giro such as Quintana and Hindley, as well as the young Piganzoli and Pellizzari.

Although, these days, there is only one name that counts.