National Championships 2017 – Italy – [Road Race – LAST 15 KM]

June 25, 2017

National Championships 2017 – Italy – Asti – Ivrea : 236 km

The Italian National Road Race Championships are held annually. They are a cycling race which decides the Italian cycling champion in the road racing discipline, across several categories of rider. The event was first held in 1906 and was won by Giovanni Cuniolo. At the beginning there were often back-to-back wins from many riders. Costante Girardengo made the remarkable achievement of 9 wins between 1913 and 1925. Perhaps if it were not for the First World War, which blocked the running of the championship for four years, from 1915 until 1918, Girardengo would have gained additional victories. Despite this, he also holds the record for most consecutive wins, with 7. After his winning streak ended, another Italian cycling legend, Alfredo Binda, won 4 races in a row. Learco Guerra succeeded him with 5 consecutive wins. Since then the event has not been dominated to the same extent, although Fausto Coppi claimed 4 victories. Recent multiple victors have included Giovanni Visconti, Paolo Bettini, Salvatore Commesso, Massimo Podenzana and Gianni Bugno. The current champion is Vincenzo Nibali. None of the road champions have also managed to win the time trial race.

Fabio Aru (Astana) claimed his first win of 2017 at the Italian national championship road race on Sunday, right on time ahead of his second Tour de France appearance. The 26-year-old soloed to victory in Ivrea, with UAE Team Emirates’ Diego Ulissi claiming second and Rinaldo Nocentini (Sporting Clube de Portugal/Tavria) rounding out the podium in third.

“I’m really happy to win today after all the difficult moments I experienced this year”, Aru said after his victory. “Initially the course might have looked easy but the climb was really hard. On Tuesday, I came to recon it with Paolo [Tiralongo]. From then on, I believed I had my chance to become the Italian champion. I never experienced that before. In the u23, I finished second. That was my best result so far. I’m really happy to have made my dream come true today. It’s an immense satisfaction. The competition was so high with [Gianni] Moscon, [Damiano] Caruso, my friend Diego Ulissi and many others on good form.”

The Italian championship was organized by RCS Sport from Asti to Ivrea in Piedmont as if it was the Gran Piemonte won in September last year by the 2016 Italian champion Giacomo Nizzolo. But it was a harder course this time around, with a seven-kilometre climb of La Serra to be done four times on a final circuit of 21.3 kilometres. Enrico Battaglin (LottoNL-Jumbo), Simone Sterbini (Bardiani CSF) and Ettore Carlini (d’Amico Ustensilnord), the attackers from kilometre 22, got caught in the second last lap by a group of 25 riders that included all the favourites, among them Vincenzo Nibali, who riding in support of Bahrain-Merida teammate Giovanni Visconti. However, the strong selection couldn’t hold Aru in check.

“My plan was to go flat out from the bottom of the climb in the last lap,” said Aru who followed the plan at perfection. “Once I made a gap, I was informed kilometre by kilometre. I couldn’t believe it when I heard that I was 40 seconds ahead. Looking at the speed, I was always between 50 and 52 kilometres an hour. I was feeling strong.”

“Being four riders swapping turns, we didn’t regain any time on Fabio”, third-placed Nocentini noted. “He impressed me really. As I saw him going as strongly at the Dauphiné, I understood he would be hard to beat. I hope he’ll win the Tour de France too. I’m looking forward to see another Italian in the yellow jersey, like me eight years ago and Nibali three years ago. It’s very important for me to make the podium of the Italian championship. Being part of a Portuguese team, I almost never race in Italy. Two months ago I didn’t know if I’d ride the nationals or not. When I decided to do it, I prepared well for it.”

Runner up Ulissi was also full of praise for Aru. “He demonstrated to have better legs than anyone else”, the Tuscan said. “He deserves the win. As for myself, I can go to the Tour de France with ambition. The good work is paying off. I hope to win a stage.”

Aru concluded the afternoon on a serious note with emotional words for his tragically deceased team-mate Michele Scarponi. “During a training ride in Sierra Nevada, we exchanged jerseys because I had the extra-small size and I wanted to try the small,” the Sardinian revealed. “I haven’t told anyone but since I’ve resumed racing, I’ve been racing with Michele’s jersey. I wanted to offer it after my first victory to his wife Anna and his children Giacomo and Tommaso. I’ll deliver the jersey to them.”

Results :
1 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 5:52:31
2 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:40
3 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Sporting / Tavira
4 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
5 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
6 Marco Canola (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:00:48
7 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
8 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
9 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
10 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Kuwait – Cartucho.es 0:00:50
11 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:58
12 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:13
13 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:02:48
14 Davide Villella (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac 0:03:53
15 Matteo Busato (Ita) Wilier Triestina
16 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:05:27
17 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
18 Marco Zamparella (Ita) Amore & Vita – Selle SMP p/b Fondriest 0:06:24
19 Iuri Filosi (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
20 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:06:25
21 Simone Ponzi (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:08:56
22 Nicolas Samparisi (Ita) d’Amico – Utensilnord
23 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Wilier Triestina
24 Adriano Brogi (Ita) GM Europa Ovini
25 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data
26 Marco Tizza (Ita) GM Europa Ovini
27 Simone Velasco (Ita) Bardiani CSF
28 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
29 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac
30 Antonino Casimir Parrinello (Ita) GM Europa Ovini
31 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky
32 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
33 Fabio Tommassini (Ita) d’Amico – Utensilnord
34 Marco Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
35 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
36 Michele Gazzara (Ita) Sangemini – MG.Kvis
37 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
38 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
39 Davide Pacchiardo (Ita) GM Europa Ovini
40 Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
41 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
42 Andrea Ruscetta (Ita) GM Europa Ovini
43 Raffaello Bonusi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
44 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:15:10
45 Nicola Gaffurini (Ita) Sangemini – MG.Kvis
46 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:15:12
47 Davide Mucelli (Ita) Meridiana Kamen Team
48 Paolo Toto’ (Ita) Sangemini – MG.Kvis 0:16:35
DNF Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Filippo Ganna (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Manuele Boaro (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
DNF Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team
DNF Moreno Moser (Ita) Astana Pro Team
DNF Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Marco Coledan (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team
DNF Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team
DNF Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team
DNF Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team
DNF Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
DNF Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
DNF Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Davide Cimolai (Ita) FDJ
DNF Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) FDJ
DNF Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
DNF Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
DNF Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Bardiani CSF
DNF Luca Wackermann (Ita) Bardiani CSF
DNF Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF
DNF Marco Maronese (Ita) Bardiani CSF
DNF Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF
DNF Simone Sterbini (Ita) Bardiani CSF
DNF Mauro Finetto (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
DNF Alan Marangoni (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
DNF Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
DNF Damiano Cunego (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
DNF Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
DNF Michele Scartezzini (Ita) Sangemini – MG.Kvis
DNF Niccolò Salvietti (Ita) Sangemini – MG.Kvis
DNF Paolo Prandini (Ita) Sangemini – MG.Kvis
DNF Nicola Baglioli (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
DNF Antonio Di Sante (Ita) GM Europa Ovini
DNF Luca Chirico (Ita) Torku Sekerspor
DNF Alberto Cecchin (Ita) Wilier Triestina
DNF Angelo Vitiello (Ita) d’Amico – Utensilnord
DNF Francesco Petrini (Ita) d’Amico – Utensilnord
DNF Ettore Carlini (Ita) d’Amico – Utensilnord
DNF Federico Canuti (Ita) d’Amico – Utensilnord
DNF Michael Bresciani (Ita) Bardiani – CSF
DNF Nicolò Pacinotti (Ita) Bardiani – CSF
DNF Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani – CSF
DNF Riccardo Stacchiotti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
DNF Alex Turrin (Ita) Wilier Triestina
DNF Mirko Trosino (Ita) Wilier Triestina
DNF Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Wilier Triestina
DNF Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Wilier Triestina
DNF Liam Bertazzo (Ita) Wilier Triestina
DNF Manuel Belletti (Ita) Wilier Triestina
DNF Simone Antonini (Ita) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
DNF Matteo Spreafico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
DNF Andrea Palini (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
DNF Luca Pacioni (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
DNF Matteo Malucelli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
DNF Marco Benfatto (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
DNF Mattia Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
DNF Davide Ballerini (Ita) Androni Giocattoli