The 2011 World championships yielded a bronze medal in both the U23 and Full Road Races. This to some nations would be viewed as a success but to the Italians who were seemingly never in the hunt for a gold medal, it is seen as another missed opportunity.
On every plaza up and down the boot shaped country they have an opinion on the worlds selection, ultimately the Italian based squads Vespa and Wiggle saw it fit to back the Ginanni/Ponzi/Pozzato based sqaud. Howls of protestion were heard from supporters of Riccardo 'The Cobra' Ricco who has been in excellent form this year (albeit in CTour company). The rivalry will be intense here as Ricco has a young looking squad of impressionable riders around him, whereas Vespa are banking on experience and Wiggle have that soon to be Protour hilly terrian assault squad.
But what about the champion incumbent Damiano Cunego? He isn't here and wasn't available for worlds selection, rumours persist that he will be finally going for a Tour assault next year but it will not be with the Italian colours on his back.
Outside of the Ricco vs Ginanni vs Wiggle battle there are a number of isolated favourites who may find temporary allies on the day. Diego Ulissi, Pozzato, Pozzovivo, Nibali, Pellizotti, Ballan, Anza, G Caruso and Emmanualle Sella will fancy they have a chance on this hilly course.
Two big climbs of about 10km dominate the 60km circuit that is traversed four times. The finish on a 1.5km climb averaging 8.5% will suit the hilly men for sure. 93 riders started off represented by 24 different teams.
Plenty of riders realise their only chance is in a breakaway and a large group of 15 riders go clear on the first climb.
Fifteen men make the early juncture
P. Locatelli, S Locatelli (Wiggle), Loddo (Pirelli) Costagli (Vesuvio), Malori (Milka), Sabatini (Telenor), Vigano, Viviani (E. Diesal), Pozzo (Youtube), Chicchi (Falcon), Zordan (Intesa), Rizza (Lipton), Moscariello (Bacardi), Priamo (Yamaha) and Moschella (LEGO) are here.
But Vespa do not like the idea of 20% of the peleton forming a break and sensibly reel it back in. Of course this only encourages more riders to go clear on the next big 10km climb.
Next wave of riders as a group of seven go
Priamo, Costagli and Rizza were in the break before they are joined this time by Battaglin (Bacardi), Corioni (Energie Diesal), D'Andrea (Pirelli) and Grippo (Wiggle).
These seven were joined by four more on the descent Malori, Moscariello, Moschella and another new name Girardi (Intesa).
Realising that if they keep reeling everything in then attacks are inevitable the Vespa squad ease back a bit.
Vespa keep it calm - though they are still on the front through Bettini
Onto the second circuit now and before the second big 10km climb, we see a minor favourite attack it is Gianni Caruso of relegated Lafarge. He may well need a new contract next year and so I guess he is showing his attacking prowess.
Caruso attacks with 140km to go!
Now it is not the first time this Italian has done this and he has been successful this year with a stage win in the Pyrenees at the tour. Yes folks and Italian who is not afraid to go to the Tour de France! It is a brave move but Caruso is on his own here and so rather than cosy up to someone has romped away on his own. He manages to bridge to the front eleven by the top of this second big climb on the second circuit.
The now 12 man break then crosses the finish area some four and a half minutes clear, Sony are wary about this move and send Mori off in pursuit as the peleton roll up that 1.5km hill.
Mori apes Caruso with his own move
However before Mori can get across to the break, Caruso is already causing damage on that first 10km climb. It is steep early and this mean he tears it to bits, only one rider Costagli (Vesuvio) can go with him.
Caruso pulls things to bits in the third circuit
Caruso drops Costagli by the top and he is well and truly on a solo romp here, back in the pack the alarm bells are ringing. But most of the work is being left to Vespa, there really is not too many other squads capable of helping.
Vespa now realise that Caruso is a danger
Why the panic? Well let's look at the gaps with 80km to go:
Caruso leads
Costagli at 2.40
Mori at 3.41
Moscariello, Groppi, D'Andrea, Moschella at 4.25
Priamo, Rizza, Malori, Girardi, Corioni, Battaglin at 5.10
Peleton at 9.01
The magic minute per 10 kilomtre barrier is broken and Vespa are calling out to anyone to help here. Wiggle are not answering but Protour champs Sony Ericsson send a few riders forward including Ballan. They obviously realise Mori is not going to bridge himself, Vespa meanwhile are quickly just down to Proni and Bosisio.
The hunt is on now as the big domestiques are called upon - Caruso has eight minutes with 60km to go
On the first climb of this second circuit the peleton start to reel in the breakaway men as Mori catches and passes Costagli. As they approach the top of the climb Vincenzo Nibali attacks the now 29 man peleton.
Nibali decides to start attacking as the chase begins to lose impetus
Ginanni curses as he realises that with the gap still at around six minutes work needs to be done to bring Caruso back before this. However his despair is not over as more riders decide to attack rather than work together. First Ponzi and Pozzovivo go and then Pellizotti, Pozzato, Nocentini, Anza and Sella.
Seven riders look to bridge up to Nibali and form a new chase group minus a few contenders of course
Ulissi notices the danger and uses a downhil to get across to the now nine man group. This group becomes ten as they quickly catch Mori. Back in the pack things are beginning to look very grim indeed for the likes of both Ginanni and Ricco.
Ginanni bites his lip as Ricco just has his head down
All is not well in this ten man front group, they actually had not all quite made it up to Mori only his teammate Anza and Mercedes man Pozzato had. These three start to work together well and pull out a 45 second gap on the seven behind.
Pozzato doubles with Sony duo
We approach that last 10km climb and we have about 25km to go until the finish. The favourites really are going to have to work together to pull back Caruso and really you would think he has to crack big time to lose this.
25km to go:
Caruso leads
Anza, Mori, Pozzato at 5.19
Pozzovivo, Nibali, Sella, Nocentini, Ponzi, Pellizotti and Ulizzi at 5.59
19 man peleton (Ricco, Ginanni, Proni, Bosisio, Ghiselberti, Di Maggio, Marzono, Ziani, Moletta, Pavarin, D Caruso, Bertagnolli, Cataldo, Salerno, Agnoli, Basso, Iannetti, Bernucci and Bellotti) at 6.50
Ballan is at 7.59
So that last long climb, what happens? Well the chasers don't really chase as rather than kick on Anza and Pozzato are reeled in by the other seven. Only really Ulissi seems to be pushing this!
Three fall back to other seven
Riccardo Ricco manages to haul the 19 man peleton up to the chase group as well.
Ricco pulls the chase groups together
By the top of the climb and with just 12km to the finish G.Caruso still has 4.45. That gap just is not falling fast enough, still though the pace must be quite high in the pack as there is now just fifteen riders left.
Fifteen left in the chase group
So here we have Ulissi, Ginanni, Ricco, Pozzovivo, Nibali, D.Caruso, Ponzi, Nocentini, Pavarin, Pellizotti, Sella, Ghiselberti, Anza and now falling off worlds bronze medalist Pozzato and break man Mori.
As they descend on a false flat, Ginanni decides to try and go alone in the vain hope that G Caruso fades.
Ginanni goes
Four men get to counter before the descending begins again: Pozzovivo, Nibali, Sella and bitter rival Ricco.
Four riders form group three
But it is useless here Caruso has a huge gap with as we see he is well through the 5km to go barrier.
What a ride by the attacking Italian
The fans on the side of the road were not expecting this but this is the type of panache they expect from their riders. The Lafarge man still has to endure that final climb but he can take it easy zip up his jersey and look forward to some national champions colours next year.
Caruso wins - he will be a prized free agent next year
Possibly a target of teams like Wiggle and Vespa who knows, but for now Lafarge can enjoy a surprise but highly deserved Italian championship victory.
Behind Ginanni seems determined to hold off the chase especially as it contains Ricco. He does hold his form on the last climb to the finish to take second place, with Ricco sprint for third.
Ginanni takes second, Ricco third
The chasing was left to Vespa for much of the day - they will be frustrated with this Ginanni was clearly in form here.
Vincenzo Nibali is the big favourite for the second year running, though the Italian did not get to contest the worlds and perhaps the man who placed 13th there Pozzovivo can be considered his rival.
Italian riders though seem better suited to the classics rather than test against the clock, classics style riders such as Ghiselberti, Pozzato and Ballan are here as are stage race types like Ricco and Pellizotti. These are certainly names that have some ability against the clock but they are not as refined as Nibbles. CTour team Vespa have developed a couple of good little TT riders and Ascani could well have outside hopes of an upset. The bookies though have plumped for Lafarge's Sestili as the man most likely to challange Nibali.
The wind will play a factor today starting at a reading of '12'. Having large teams means that the early starters are dominated by Bacardi youngsters, the classics specialist Wiggle team and Vespa. Two rider Nocentini (Wiggle) and Garbelli are sent out early and will set markers.
Times will be presented in Chrono 1:Chrono 2:Finish
The wind picks up slightly to '19' and this prompts Vespa to send hard man Quinzato out to try and outdo teammate Garbelli. He does this in fine style breaking 65 minutes.
Quinzato 18.03 45.02 1.04.50
It is a smashing rider by the Vespa man and it appears as if Energie Diesal are now looking to cash in on the conditions sending out Viviani and then their leader Pozzovivo in quick succession.
The gamble has not paid off for Energie Diesal as Pozzovivo rather surprisingly finishes behind both Vespa riders Garbelli and Quinzato. The reason appears to be the dying wind conditions as they reduce down to wind speed '7'.
Protour duo Sesteli (Lafarge) and Ghiselberti (Lipton) are out as well and they are trying hard in the calm conditions.
Neither are able to sneak inside Quinzato's time, the wind is really playing its part here. Rather strange then that Vespa decide to send their best chrono man Ascani out when conditions are the calmest.
He rolls through the first check at 18.00 which is pretty much bang on where it needs to be to be competitive. The favourite and reigning champ is out on the course too.
He tears through the first hilly section, I guess wind is not really a factor here as Nibbles sets 17.49, the fastest time so far at that first split. Both the Vespa and Domina Vacanze man get lucky here as the wind begins to pick up here back towards the original 14 or 15 readings. This results in both setting new bests, first Ascani:
Ascani 18.00 44.58 1.04.43
and then Nibali
Nibali 17.49 44.25 1.03.48
An excellent time by the champion, he will wait at the finish area and will be a bit nervous because the wind has now really picked up. Classics specialists Ricco and Pozzato are setting much faster times then most would have thought.
Thats impressive by the Mercedes man as he moves into the provisional 2nd place as the wind gets to a reading of '30'! Still time for stage race men Basso and Pellizotti to register fast times:
We had a mild surprise as 23 year old Malori of Milka set a very decend set of times to move to provisional 3rd overall.
Malori ---- 45.17 1.04.42
However he was eclipsed by the latest starter of all in the certainly the best conditions of the day Alessandro Ballan.
Ballan ---- 45.05 1.04.37
That places the northern European star into second on the day. But the equalising conditions of the wind could not deny Vincenzo Nibali his rightful place as King of the Italian Time Triallers.
