Nazionale Italiana

[Vos]

GARA 3 :  Spanish sprint

13ºC

Almadén, Spain,
In the picture ; back in 2011 this sprint stage was won by Marcel Kittel, who avoided a massive crash.

Hopefully teamcaptain & topsprinter Marello can avoid bad luck too,
because Italia needs an excellent result after the first 2 dissapointing races.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 3 :

Francesco Marello ( 27 ) woodwatch
Lamberto DiLuca ( 31 ) catapunchimpon
Damiano Carrassi ( 25 ) Shiro_Lions
Fortunato Raviolli ( 25 ) Eufemianoteam
Antonio Simoni ( 30 ) galegospolabici
Fabiano Grandini ( 25 ) Triomfator
- - - - - - - - - -
Nestore Novelli* ( 26 ) SPORTLIFE
Salvatore Vergottini* ( 19 ) Villavante     ( debutto )
Frederico Gucciardo ( 22 ) Flyvende_hjul

[Vos]

3º  Marello   0:00"
Finally an excellent result this season ! 

I tried to score some extra points with a free role, but he could not follow the brutal pace in section 2.
But more importantly ; teamcaptain Marello had support in all sections, including 2 essential helpers in s4.
This rainy&windy sprint race went like this ( number of cyclists in the front per section ) =  127 - 46 - 45 - 33 - 16.

[Vos]

GARA 4 :  Breda time trial

9ºC

Breda, the Netherlands,
The 4 in bold mentioned TT-specialists are all high ranked = nrs 3, 7, 11, 18.
But experience counts a lot too, and the best 3 are far from max. experience.
Perhaps/probably Poletti will get the best Italian result, due to his max. experience ánd due to his active weather icon*.

In previous NT season, Poletti was the best Italian TT-specialist with a 6º place in a 49km flat-TT,
where Novelli( 12º ) and Nardello( 15º ) scored points too = 330 total points.

But two seasons ago, Poletti finished "just" as 20º in a 53km flat-TT,
and the other Italian points were scored by Coppi( 8º, retired now at 35yo ) and Nardello( 16º ) = 210 total points.

Hopefully more points this season. And because luck plays a big role too, 2 more flat-TT-specialists are selected = nrs 26 & 37.
The last 3 places are for xp-cyclists / young top talents.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 3 :

Nestore Novelli ( 26 ) SPORTLIFE
Giuliano Nardello ( 31 ) Lukara
Giovanni Pizzuto ( 26 ) WaterBoys
Domenico Poletti* ( 29 ) Sonfuga
Mirko Muto ( 31 ) MDDCycling
Leandro Costa* ( 30 ) Lukara
- - - - - - - - - -
Salvatore Vergottini ( 19 ) Villavante
Frederico Gucciardo ( 22 ) Flyvende_hjul
Massimiliano Fazzini ( 21 ) GiabbaStar    ( debutto )

[Vos]

3º  Novelli   0:05"
10º  Poletti   0:10"
Excellent results ! 

Nardello ( 22º on 0:14" ) dissapointed. With a little more luck he could have scored points, he finished in the same time as the nr 19º
Costa ( 25º on 0:15" ) had by far the lowest Italian race GV, but surprised a lot, almost points thanks to luck ánd his weather icon.
Muto ( 37º on 0:21" ) did what was expected, and that is finishing outside the points. But selected with the hope of a very lucky race.
Pizutto ( 41º on 0:24" ) had a complete off-day. Much more was expected of the nr 11 in the CFF ranking.

[Vos]

GARA 5 :  Vlaanderen

13ºC

Bruges, Belgium,
No Italian top cobblehills specialists. Also not for this specific RVV, where hills counts much more than in a "normal" cobblehills GV.
In the golden cobblehills ranking, the best five Italians are ranked on numbers 14, 16, 20, 26, 45.
So, it should be possible to score points if the tactics go right in this windy* race.

I'm not sure yet, but probably Alfani will be the teamcaptain due to his max.experience ( Contrini with best race GV, is half experienced ).
Because there is wind*, one more helper will be selected later. Three old candidates ( 31yo, 32yo, 33yo ) for that only one last spot.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 5 :

Enzo Contrini ( 27 ) CyKings
Luciano Palosi ( 26 ) Stuttgarter
Gabriele Alfani ( 32 ) FakeBike
Dario Solari ( 31 ) Kelme4ever
Gianluca Mori ( 28 ) El_Realidad
Ezio Marello* ( 24 ) MortoviaCycling    ( debutto )
Tiziano Clari ( 32 ) TeamSerfin
- - - - - - - - - -
Frederico Gucciardo ( 22 ) Flyvende_hjul
Salvatore Vergottini* ( 19 ) Villavante

[Vos]

3º  Alfani   0:02"
Splendid top result , thanks to a perfect helper's job of Solari.

Italia even moved up to the 4th place in the season ranking, just 105 points behind the podium places.
But no illusions, because to my estimation ; a podiumplace this season, is far out of reach.
One of the main factors, is the NT climb time trial of next week. It is possible that Italia will score 0 points despite "home-advantage".

[Vos]

GARA 6 :  Monte Terminillo

35ºC

Vazia, Italy,
According to my estimation, no Italian is good enough to score points in this climb time trial.
Nevertheless, I decided to select the best 8 Italians ( in different GV options ).
In the hope that other countries make selection mistakes, and/or in the hope that an Italian has a lot of luck.
I think that one of the selected 25yo's has the most chance to surprise me.
Well, even if the result will be the expected zero points, at least Italia had an as "strong" as possible selection on home soil.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 6 :

Gioachino Gazzola ( 25 ) Lukara     ( debutto )
Alessio Macannazi ( 25 ) RealMurciaCycling
Cristian Pellasci ( 25 ) TeamEuroscalt
Damien Panzeri ( 24 ) SaliDur    ( debutto )         
Nilo Giusti ( 33 ) Abrazafarolas
Gigi Sanna ( 31 ) Trisquel
Pino Matracia ( 30 ) Monty     ( debutto )
Gianluca Salvati ( 31 ) Undercover
- - - - - - - - - -
Frederico Gucciardo ( 22 ) Flyvende_hjul

[Vos]

GARA 7 :  Frauenfeld

34ºC

Frauenfeld, Switzerland,
As expected, 0 points in the climb time trial. What caused that Italia dropped from 4th to 6th place in the season ranking.
And it causes that there is nothing to battle for in the last NT race, because the gap to the podium places is too big.

Also because there are just 4 golden flat-cobble-specialists ; 3 low ranked, and the best is the nr 13 in the golden flat-cobble ranking.
But he does not like this NT race ; he prefers way less kilometers and prefers flat sections, or even better, a green-flat-sprint-section 5.
Perhaps even doubtfull if he will be the team captain. But who ever that will be, also a battle for race victory is not possible.

Hopefully my successor will have more luck with the NT schedule of next season, because this season was not in favor of Italia.
With a good season schedule ( for example hillsclimb instead of climb TT ), Italia should be good enough to battle for a podium place.

The just 4 golden flat-cobble specialists are all selected. The last 5 places are for cyclists to gain extra experience & beneficial for Italia.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 7 :

Cristiano Sansonetti ( 26 ) OphiukoCT
Giulio Pellasci ( 24 ) LottoGranadier
Valentino Grillo ( 26 ) LaguardiaDSM
Luciano Cappannari* ( 32 ) CajaRuralZamora
- - - - - - - - - -
Frederico Gucciardo ( 22 ) Flyvende_hjul
Nestore Novelli* ( 26 ) SPORTLIFE
Salvatore Vergottini* ( 19 ) Villavante
Lauro Fortticcini* ( 22 ) BoletusEdulis
Massimiliano Fazzini ( 21 ) GiabbaStar