The Italian rider delivered a textbook sprint finish in Varese to secure her maiden victory of the season and retain the title for UAE Team L’IMAD.
VARESE, Italy — October 6, 2026 : Italian sprinter Eleonora Gasparrini captured her first victory of the 2026 season on Tuesday, overpowering her rivals in a reduced bunch sprint to claim the Tre Valli Varesine Women’s Race.
Gasparrini, riding for UAE Team L’IMAD, timed her burst across the finish line to edge out Canada’s Sarah van Dam (Team Visma | Lease a Bike). Switzerland’s Noemi Rüegg rounded out the podium in third.
The triumph keeps the prestigious Italian one-day race in UAE Team L’IMAD colours for a second consecutive year, following compatriot Elisa Longo Borghini’s victory in the 2025 edition.
A relentless rhythm defined the tactical contest through the rolling hills around Varese. The decisive move took shape in the latter stages when Gasparrini’s teammate Karlijn Swinkels forced her way into a dangerous breakaway, freeing the peloton-based riders of UAE Team L’IMAD from chasing duties until the final circuits.
Once the peloton reeled in the escapees in the closing kilometres, the Emirati-backed squad organized their sprint train on the technical approach. Swinkels and the rest of the lead-out crew shielded Gasparrini until the final straight, leaving the 24-year-old with a clear corridor to launch her sprint.
“I’m really happy. I think we played it very well as a team. Karlijn Swinkels did a great job getting into the breakaway,” Gasparrini said after the podium ceremony. “In the finale, we kept the pace very high and I tried to hang on. When we caught the breakaway, my teammates gave me a perfect lead-out and I just had to finish it off.”
Van Dam surged late on Gasparrini’s wheel, but the Italian held her line to take the tape by half a bike length, giving her squad a key late-season victory on home roads before the European autumn calendar winds down.
