Nizzolo proves he can lead Italy at the Worlds with Coppa Bernocchi victory
Riding for the Italian national team, Giacomo Nizzolo proved that he is ready to lead Italy at the World Championships when he finished off a dominant performance from his teammates by winning the Coppa Bernocchi.
After a great lead-out from his teammates, he beat the Bardiani pair of Nicola Ruffoni and Paolo Simion in the bunch sprint to take his first victory since his win at Nationals in June.
In the last few months, there has been a lot of discussion about who’s going to lead Italy at the Worlds in Qatar. With Giacomo Nizzolo and Elia Viviani, the country has two world-class sprinters while riders like Sacha Modolo and Andrea Guardini are looming as outsider.
The next few weeks will decide who’s going to get the captaincy role and after both Nizzolo and Viviani failed to show much in the Tour of Britain – Nizzolo crashed out after a few days – the pair lined up together for today’s big sprint race in Italy, Coppa Bernocchi. With riders like Jacopo Guarnieri and Marco Coledan also on the roster, national coach Davide Cassani had gathered some of the finest lead-out men in Italy and the race was regarded as a bit of a dress rehearsal for the race in Qatar.
Coppa Bernocchi 2016 results:
| 1 | Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy) | 4:25:53 |
| 2 | Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani-CSF) |
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| 3 | Paolo Simion (Bardiani-CSF) |
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| 4 | Carlos Barbero (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) |
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| 5 | Filippo Pozzato (Wilier – Southeast) |
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| 6 | Davide Vigano (Androni – Sidermec) | ,, |
| 7 | Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 8 | Marco Di Francesco (Norda-MG.Kvis Vega) | ,, |
| 9 | Roman Maikin (Gazprom-RusVelo) | ,, |
| 10 | Arman Kamyshev (Astana) | ,, |
