Cavendish Sprints to World Championship Victory

Great Britain's Mark Cavendish launched a searing sprint to win the men's road World Championship in Copenhagen beating Australia's Matt Goss and Germany's André Greipel.



"We knew three years ago when this course was announced, that it could be good for us," said Cavendish, "We put a plan together to come with the best group of guys to this race and to come away from it with the rainbow jersey. It's been three years in the making. The guys have worked so hard throughout the season to get points so that we could have eight riders here and, as you just saw, they rode incredibly. I feel so, so proud."

Daniele Bennati, the sprinter for Italy, finished 14th. That is the worst placement since 1983. Bennati's teammates were separated from him in one of the final roundabouts, leaving Bennati behind and forcing him to ride the last 2km without them. "I was bottled up," said Bennati. "We were unable to organize ourselves. It's a sin since I had the legs."

C.T. Paolo Bettini's analysis: "Great Britain had the strongest team and won with a great sprinter. It is useless to deny it. They knew the route perfectly and built a team in which they believed in."

Bettini is likely to once again going to come under criticisim as the Italian national team only came away from the championships with one medal, the gold medal for Giorgia Bronzini. The medal results:


Great Britain: Gold (2), Silver (2), Bronze (2) = 6
Australia: Gold (2), Silver (1), Bronze (2) = 5
France: Gold (2), Silver (1) = 3
Germany: Gold (2), Bronze (3) = 5
Denmark: Gold (1), Silver (1), Bronze (1) = 3
Italy: Gold (1) = 1
New Zealand: Silver (2) = 2
Switzerland: Bronze (1) = 1
Belgium: Silver (2) = 2
Netherlands: Silver (1), Bronze (1) = 2
Switzerland: Bronze (1) = 1

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Giorgia Bronzini: "My thanks to all my teammates"

Giorgia Bronzini won her second consecutive road World Championship in Copenhagen today. Bronzini, the 28 year old from Piacenza, duplicated her 2010 success in Geelong by once again beating Holland's Marianne Vos in a sprint.

Monia Baccaille, the Italian champion, protected Bronzini in the last kilometers avoiding a crash with 2 km to go that took out Elena Cecchini. On the final uphill stretch to the finish line Bronzini was glued onto the wheel of Baccaille who was keeping pace with the Vos train. Bronzini timed her sprint perfectly and beat Vos by only a few centimeters.



For Vos, who won in 2006, it was her 5th consecutive 2nd place finish. She was absolutely shattered.

For the C.T. of the women's team, Edoardo Salvoldi, it was his fourth championship victory in five years with Bastianelli in 2007, Guderzo in 2009, Bronzini in 2010 and 2011.



Top 10:
1 Giorgia Bronzini (Italy) 3:21:28
2 Marianne Vos (Netherlands)
3 Ina Teutenberg (Germany)
4 Nicole Cooke (Great Britain)
5 Julia Martisova (Russian Federation)
6 Chloe Hosking (Australia)
7 Elizabeth Armitstead (Great Britain)
8 Ludivine Henrion (Belgium)
9 Rasa Leleivyte (Lithuania)
10 Aude Biannic (France)


The world championships end tomorrow with the 266 km men's road race. The Italian team will be working to bring Daniele Bennati to victory.

Photos: Bettini; podium photo: Sirotti

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Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, touring, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are always welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 2,100 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog. There is also a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page.

Italian Team for UCI Road World Championships, Part II

Part I

Continuing with the Italian national team selections for the 2011 UCI Road World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 19 to 25 September:


Juniors, Women
Rossella Ratto (Giusfredi Ciclismo), European champion
Beatrice Bartelloni (Verso l'Iride)
Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Fiorin Despar)
Dalia Muccioli (Potentia 1945)
Chiara Vannucci (Fiorin Despar)
reserve: Ilaria Sanguineti (Team Valcar)

Time trial: Bartelloni, Confalonieri and Ratto with Stella Riverditi (Nuovo Ciclismo Asti) in reserve.


Juniors, Men
Alberto Bettiol (Stabbia Iperfinish)
Simone Andreetta (Cieffe Forni)
Niccolò Bonifazio (Team Pbr)
Davide Martinelli (Feralpi)
Jacopo Mosca (Ucab Biella)
Federico Zurlo (Postumia 73)
Riccardo Donato (Work Service Brenta)
Nicholas Marini
Matteo Cigala (Aspiratori Otelli Zani)

Time trial: by Thursday three of the men will be chosen from among Martinelli, Bettiol, Mosca and Donato.


Under 23 (Men)
Eugenio Alafaci (Lucchini Maniva Ski)
Nicola Boem (Zalf Désirée Fior)
Sonny Colbrelli (Zalf Désirée Fior)
Massimo Coledan (Trevigiani Dynamon)
Christian Delle Stelle (Trevigiani Dynamon)
Filippo Fortin (Trevigiani Dynamon)
Gianluca Leonardi (Marchiol Ati Site)
Matteo Mammini (Mastromarco Sensi)

Time trial: Mammini and Coledan with Leonardi in reserve

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Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, touring, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are always welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 2,100 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog. There is also a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page.

Italian Team for UCI Road World Championships

The 2011 UCI Road World Championships will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 19 to 25 September.

Today, in Milan, the Italian team was announced.

Women's Elite road race
Giorgia Bronzini (Colavita Forno d'Asolo), current World Champion
Monia Baccaille (MCipollini Giambenini)
Tatiana Guderzo (MCipollini Giambenini)
Noemi Cantele (Garmin Cervelo)
Elena Cecchini (Colavita Forno d'Asolo)
Elisa Longo Borghini (Top Girls)
Valentina Scandolara (Gauss)
The names of the 8th rider and reserve rider will be named on Friday, September 16th, from among the following: Elena Berlato (Top Girls), Alessandra D'Ettorre (Colavita Forno d'Asolo), Rossella Callovi and Marta Tagliaferro (MCipollini Giambenini).

Women's Elite time trial
Noemi Cantele and Elisa Longo Borghini


Men's Professional road race
Daniel Bennati (Leopard Trek)
Manuel Belletti(Colnago CSF)
Sacha Modolo (Colnago CSF)
Oscar Gatto (Farnese Neri)
Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Neri)
Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre ISD)
Daniel Oss (Liquigas Cannondale)
Elia Viviani (Liquigas Cannondale)
Luca Paolini (Katusha)
Manuel Quinziato (BMC)
Matteo Tosatto (Saxo Bank)

Men's Professional time trial
Marco Pintti and Adriano Malori

Later today, in Part II, I will add the names for the junior and U23 teams.

Photo: the new national team jersey

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Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, touring, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are always welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 2,100 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog. There is also a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page.

Bettini: Sprinters Wanted for World Championship

AAA sprinter wanted urgently. Candidates with references (results in races above 250 km). What may seem like a joke is a bit of the state of mind of Paolo Bettini after spending Thursday and Friday analyzing the World Championship course in Copenhagen. "It is not as tough as the last two years, but harder than Zolder 2002 where Chipollini won", said Bettini. The race takes place September 25, 2011.

Bettini believes that the medals will be decided in a group sprint to the finish line at the top of Geels Hill. "It'll be a large groupe sprinting for gold after a very long race. It'll end with a powerful sprint for riders with great stamina and great power. Nobody wins the WC by coincidence and you'll have to be very well prepared", Bettini explained. "It is not an easy sprint. First of all it is uphill, and prior to that the pace will be accelerated in the last kilometers before the hill. It'll be extremely important to have two riders at the front, leading out the sprint".

For the time being the candidates for the role of team captain are two: Alessandro Petacchi and Daniele Bennati. Petacchi is more reliable but will be 37 years old in January. Bennati is 29 years old but coming off of two difficult seasons.

The third name that excites the imagination of C.T. Bettini is that of Francesco Chicchi, former world champion in U23 at Zolder in 2002. Bettini, however, believes the powerful Quick Step sprinter has yet to be able to prove that he can be competitive at more than 180 km, his current limit in races (the WC course is 280 km).

Behind these are good Italian sprinters but with two flaws: lack of international experience in big races and a guarantee that they could compete with the likes of Cavendish, Farrar, Greipel, Hushovd (current World Champion), and Freire. Bettini also observed that Matti Breschel will be very motivated to take the Gold medal on home soil.

Bettini, speaking in Italian, in Copenhagen:

To view in full size click here.

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Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are very welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,600 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog. There is also an Italian weather widget along the right side and a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page. What I'm riding.

Bettini: Recon of Copenhagen World Championship Course

Paolo Bettini (CT, Commissario Tecnico) of the Italian national squad arrived in Copenhagen yesterday to begin undertaking a recon of the 2011 World Championship road course in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was accompanied by Andrea Collinelli and Marino Amadori (CTs for the U23 teams), and Rino De Candido (CT, Juniors) and Mario Valentini (CT, paracycling).

Paolo Bettini came under criticism from some quarters for his team selection for the 2010 World Championships, especially from Mario Cipollini who was outspoken about Bettini's decision to not select a sprinter.

CT Dino Salvoldi who is not attending the inspection but is familiar with the roads after a visit in 2009 for the track Worlds commented, "It's a fairly easy route from the elevation profile perspective. For a long stretch it runs through a park where the road is narrow with a particular arrival because it has a ramp of about 500 meters that is misleading for anyone that sprints early."

Mark Cavendish, at the end of October, completed 2 laps on the 14 kilometer circuit. "The course is not as challenging as in Geelong, but is in fact tougher than I thought. It is technically challenging and I believe a quite big group will settle the medals in a sprint", Cavendish commented. "The sprint uphill will result in a power sprint", he said.

Photo: location of the finish line

The course in 15 minutes of video:

To see in full size click here.

The event website is www.copenhagen2011.dk

ICJ Reader contribution contest will run 1 January to 15 February, 2011. Details here.

Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are very welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,600 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog. There is also an Italian weather widget along the right side and a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page. What I'm riding.