National Championships 2020 – Italy – Road Race – [FULL RACE]

August 23, 2020

National Championships 2020 – Italy – Bassano del Grappa – Cittadella : 253 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. At the beginning there were often back-to-back wins from many riders. None of the road champions have also won the time trial race.

Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) became the Italian national road race champion for the second time in his career, winning a sprint from a group of 13 riders in Cittadella on Sunday.

Nizzolo has endured a string of injury troubles since he last won the title in 2016 but confirmed his return to top form in 2020 with a strong sprint after 253 tough kilometres of racing.

The 31-year-old pipped Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-QuickStep) to the line in a close sprint, with Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain McLaren), who opened up the sprint, taking the bronze medal.

“It was a crazy sprint. Of course, sprints are always chaotic, and it wasn’t easy to finish it off. I went really late, but I really wanted to win,” Nizzolo said.

“Since we restarted the season I have felt good. I had a good look at the course yesterday and thought ‘it’s hard but I can try and win this’. I don’t want to be selfish but I want to dedicate this win to myself a little but because I’ve worked hard over a difficult couple of years, and I’m really happy to be back at my best level.”

Nizzolo, who won a stage of Paris-Nice in March and placed 5th at Milan-San Remo a fortnight ago, looked strong throughout the 253.8km race, which featured an early loop followed by 12 laps of a 12.5km circuit that featured the Rosina climb, averaging six per cent over 2km. The last lap would also feature the short narrow cobbled climb of La Tisa, 850m at 13.5 per cent, which would have looked more at home in the Tour of Flanders.

It was on La Tisa where the first true selection was made, after an unruly early breakaway of 27 riders – formed after a group of 21 went after the original seven – had been caught with 50km to go, the last survivors being Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo).

Ballerini set a fierce pace on the climb and it split over the top, with Nizzolo, Colbrelli, Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), Andrea Bagioli (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo), Daniel Oss (Bora-Hansgrohe), and Marco Canola (Gazprom-RusVelo) going clear. On the final climb of La Rosina, there was a further shake-up, as Alessandro De Marchi (CCC Team), Andrea Vendrame (AG2R La Mondiale), Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), Samuele Battistella (NTT Pro Cycling), Kristijan Sbaragli (Alpecin-Fenix), Giacomo Garavaglia (Kometa Xstra) made their way across to make it 13 out front, with Canola dropped.

Formolo had seemed to halt an attack at the top of the climb to wait for Ulissi to come back on, and the pair tried to attack on the flat 20km run-in, as did De Marchi. However, after a lapse in collaboration saw a chase group come to within 15 seconds, QuickStep and NTT used their numbers to drive the group to the line.

Oss led into the final kilometre before Colbrelli opened the sprint from distance. Ballerini was on his wheel and looked to make a convincing hit-out, until an advancing Nizzolo on the left came up and took the tricolore with a bike throw.

Results :
1 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 5:48:37
2 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep
3 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain McLaren
4 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R la Mondiale
5 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Alpecin-Fenix
6 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
7 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) CCC Team
8 Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep
9 Giacomo Garavaglia (Ita) Kometa Xstra
10 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
11 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:04
12 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
13 Samuele Battistella (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:00:12
14 Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team Sunweb 0:01:31
15 Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis
16 Matteo Trentin (Ita) CCC Team
17 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
18 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bahrain McLaren
19 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain McLaren
20 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
21 Luca Chirico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
22 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
23 Marco Tizza (Ita) Amore e Vita-Prodir
24 Marco Canola (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo
25 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:36
26 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
27 Fausto Masnada (Ita) CCC Team
28 Simone Velasco (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:01:37
29 Stefano Oldani (Ita) Lotto Soudal 0:03:52
30 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Start-Up Nation
31 Raul Colombo (Ita) Work Service-Dinatek-Vega 0:06:58
32 Antonio Di Sante (Ita) Sangemini Trevigiani MG.k Vis
33 Daniel Savini (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
34 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Meridiana Kamen Team
35 Simone Ravanelli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
36 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert
37 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
38 Nicola Bagioli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
39 Davide Gabburo (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
40 Mattia Bais (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
41 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Nippo Delko Provence
42 Filippo Rocchetti (Ita) ASD Zalf Euromobile Desiree Fior
43 Simone Petilli (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert
44 Davide Casarotto (Ita) General Store-Essegibi-f.lli Curia
45 Manuel Pesci (Ita) ASD Team Malmantile
46 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM 0:07:09
47 Matteo Malucelli (Ita) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:08:14
DNF Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Antonio Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Davide Martinelli (Ita) Astana Pro Team
DNF Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team
DNF Eros Capecchi (Ita) Bahrain McLaren
DNF Manuel Belletti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Mattia Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Luca Pacioni (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Nicola Venchiarutti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Mattia Viel (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Marco Benfatto (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Luca Covili (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Nicolas Dalla Valle (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Iuri Filosi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Fabio Mazzucco (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Alessandro Monaco (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Umberto Orsini (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Alessandro Pessot (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Francesco Romano (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Manuel Senni (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Filippo Zaccanti (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Filippo Zana (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cofidis
DNF Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
DNF Attilio Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
DNF Damiano Cima (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo
DNF Imerio Cima (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo
DNF Cristian Scaroni (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo
DNF Alessandro Fedeli (Ita) Nippo Delko Provence
DNF Riccardo Minali (Ita) Nippo Delko Provence
DNF Leonardo Bonifazio (Ita) Total Direct Energie
DNF Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Total Direct Energie
DNF Matteo Spreafico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Liam Bertazzo (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Mattia Bevilacqua (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Simone Bevilacqua (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Andrea Di Renzo (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Marco Frapporti (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Andrea Garosio (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Alessandro Iacchi (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Umberto Marengo (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Riccardo Stacchiotti (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
DNF Riccardo Marchesini (Ita) Amore e Vita-Prodir
DNF Matteo Domenicali (Ita) Beltrami TSA Marchiol
DNF Gregorio Ferri (Ita) Beltrami TSA Marchiol
DNF Marco Grendene (Ita) Beltrami TSA Marchiol
DNF Valter Ghigino (Ita) D’Amico um Tools
DNF Ivan Martinelli (Ita) D’Amico um Tools
DNF Nicolas Nesi (Ita) D’Amico um Tools
DNF Luca Raggio (Ita) D’Amico um Tools
DNF Riccardo Lucca (Ita) General Store-Essegibi-f.lli Curia
DNF Daniel Smarzaro (Ita) General Store-Essegibi-f.lli Curia
DNF Emanuele Onesti (Ita) Giotti Victoria
DNF Federico Zurlo (Ita) Giotti Victoria
DNF Andrea Guardini (Ita) Giotti Victoria
DNF Filippo Bertone (Ita) Iseo Serrature-Rime-Carnovali
DNF Riccardo Verza (Ita) Kometa Xstra
DNF Pierpaolo Ficara (Ita) Team Sapura Cycling
DNF Danilo Celano (Ita) Team Sapura Cycling
DNF Antonio Santoro (Ita) Work Service-Dinatek-Vega
DNF Paolo Totò (Ita) Work Service-Dinatek-Vega
DNF Federico Burchio (Ita) Work Service-Dinatek-Vega
DNF Matteo Rotondi (Ita) Work Service-Dinatek-Vega
DNF Francesco Zandri (Ita) Work Service-Dinatek-Vega
DNF Dario Puccioni (Ita) Work Service-Dinatek-Vega
DNF Niccolo’ Salvietti (Ita) Sangemini Trevigiani MG.k Vis
DNF Francesco Di Felice (Ita) Sangemini Trevigiani MG.k Vis
DNF Raffaele Radice (Ita) Sangemini Trevigiani MG.k Vis