Nazionale Italiana

[Vos]

A bad season schedule for Italy. To "compensate" that a bit, I started this post with a good picture of bella Italia. 

programma della stagione 51 =

1.   Hamilton  HHHHH  175 km
Italian captain = nr 20 golden hills ranking ( nr 15 pure hills ).

2.   Courchevel  FFMDM  192,5 km
Unfortunately no pure climb race.
Italy has the nrs 4 + 8 + 9 in pure climb, but this (semi-)flat-climb race has a very different race GV.
According to my estimation, my own (former-)training-project 24yo Pinicci (nr 8 pure climb) has by far the "best" Italian race GV.
But very hard to predict if his race GV is good enough for a nice result.
Also ; he is extremely unexperienced because I could not race with him in his youth seasons due to my racing staff.

3.   Venray  FFFFF  204 km
Italian captain = nr 59 golden sprint ranking ( nr 12 flat-sprint ).

4.   Adelaide  TT-FFFFF  88 km
Italy has the nrs 1 + 2 + 11 + 14 of the flat-TT-ranking. 
In the much shorter time trial of previous season, Italy scored a total of 730 points ! Also now, the expectations are high.

5.   Cuenca  HHFCC^ 180 km
Italian captain = nr 5 cobblehills ranking. A top contender. 

6.   Saint Vulbas  F^HFF^F  186 km
Very unfortunate that the "extra different race" is a hill-sprint this season.
Italy has just 2 very low ranked golden hill-sprinters, the nrs 89 & 110.
In practise, for this specific hill-sprint race GV, probably even lower ranked, because a few foreign flat-sprinters might be good too.
The expectation is obvious = zero Italian points.

7.   Reims  CFFCC  226 km
Italian captain = nr 40 flat-cobble ranking.
He is the only( ! ) Italian with a golden flat-cobble icon.
As 32yo in previous season, he did not score points. Now as 33yo, the expectation is obvious = zero Italian points.


Despite this bad season schedule, my goal is to try to battle for a podium place in the season ranking.
Hopefully not an unrealistic goal, but maybe it might be.
Well, in all seasons that I was the NT manager of Italy and Australia, just once outside the podium, as 5th.
So my "back-up season goal" is not to do worse than that, then I'm already happy. 

I looked at all the Italian youth generations, and I'm not impressed at all. A very low number of (potential?-) excellent talents, so ;
Everyone good luck with scouting in Italy !   



GARA 1 : Hamilton

2ºC

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada,
The Spanish cyclist Igor Astarloa won this WC road race back in 2003, see picture.
A good chance that also in this CFF edition, there will be a Spanish winner.
Because the current CFF world champion Carvajal ( 29yo, Teamclaes ) is the top favorite.

The Italian captain is not good enough to compete for the victory, but as nr 15 in pure hills, I do expect some points.
His best helper is the nr 31 pure hills, but a big GV gap of one full GV point towards the captain.
And by far the best helper, because also a big gap of more than 1 full GV point towards all other golden Italians.
But all 7 golden Italians( incl. 4 ranked as flat-hills ) are selected, due to the hard wind,
ánd because this NT season has only 4 races/opportunities to score points with tactics. So, I better try it with a "full power" selection.

There are no more Italians with a golden hills icon, so, the last 2 places are for young cyclists who need the experience very much ; 
Scafidi ( nr 2 flat-TT ranking ) and Pinicci ( nr 8 pure-climb ranking and most likely Italian captain of NT race 2 ).

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 1 :

Max Cocco ( 30 ) MaretiCT
Ivano Mangili ( 29 ) Shiro_Lions
Santino Mastrilli ( 32 ) SentinelChickens
Amauri Bettino ( 28 ) Estoparia
Cristian Veroli ( 24 ) MortoviaCycling
Gaspare Fortticcini ( 33 ) MaretiCT
Rocco Chiappucci ( 31 ) Speedbird
- - - - - - - - - -
Fabian Scafidi ( 25 ) Lukara
Frederico Pinicci ( 24 ) SPORTLIFE

[Vos]

NT race 1 result ;

3    Max Cocco      30   0: 19"   225      MaretiCT

Magnificent result ! 



GARA 2 : Courchevel

39ºC

Grenoble, France,
I do not know what to expect of the unexperienced captain.
Despite almost no xp-skill, he should be able to score points, and he should be much better than the other selected Italians.
What makes it very, véry doubtfull if some extra points can be scored. But a few Italians will try that, and hopefully surprise me.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 2 :

Frederico Pinicci ( 24 ) SPORTLIFE
Lazzaro Gilardi ( 29 ) Álvaro_Pino_Boys     ( debutto )
Simone Giardini ( 29 ) Turrones
Gallo Starnari* ( 31 ) heikir_proteam
Andrea Sansalone (34 ) Sonfuga
Albano Marsile ( 29 ) FlyEaglesFly
Dante Conte ( 30 ) Luka_Warriors
Ivano Gaggiano ( 26 ) Kimbonero     ( debutto )
Davide Baccara* ( 25 ) ReturnOfOrange

[Vos]

NT race 2 results ;

9    Frederico Pinicci      24   0: 41"   130      SPORTLIFE
14    Gallo Starnari      31   1: 04"   80      heikir_proteam
16    Andrea Sansalone   34   1: 09"   60      Sonfuga
18    Lazzaro Gilardi      29   1: 11"   30      Álvaro_Pino_Boys

Italia even scored as 2nd best nation in this race with a total of 300 points. 

GARA 3 : Venray

22ºC

Breda, the Netherlands,
There are just 3 Italian golden flat-sprinters ; the numbers 12 & 20 & 23 in the golden flat-sprint ranking.
Hopefully a good race & enough points, despite that a NT flat-sprint race is often an unpredictable lottery with surprising results.

Two silver sprinters of AleAle are selected as extra support.
The only(!) Italian golden hills-sprinter is also selected as extra helper.
He will be the captain in NT race 6, where he needs almost a miracle to score points as low ranked nr 88 hills-sprinter.

Two promising young sprint-talents will make their NT debut.
Also the nr 2 of the flat-TT ranking gets an xp selection.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 3 :

Emanuele Montalbano ( 27 ) Anglers
Cristiano Maranesi ( 27 ) FlyEaglesFly
Daniele Vasari* ( 27 ) woodwatch
Gaspare Bassani ( 24 ) AleAle
Filippo Salvati ( 24 ) AleAle
Pasquale Lattanzi ( 26 ) Galletto
- - - - - - - - - -
Fabian Scafidi ( 25 ) Lukara
Ezio Caneschi ( 21 ) TeamSerfin     ( debutto )
Remo Iantosca ( 22 ) SaulSalinasTeam     ( debutto )

[Vos]

NT race 3 result ;
4    Emanuele Montalbano      27   0: 00"   200      Anglers
Excellent result ! 


GARA 4 :  Adelaide

13ºC

Buon Natale a tutti !

Adelaide, Australia,
This race is two days after Christmas in the summer.
The low 13ºC is very unusual for an Australian summer. In reality, upcoming Sunday an expected 35ºC in Adelaide.

The selection is already complete, and the expectations are high !

Vergottini is the nr 1 in the CFF flat-TT ranking. This season he won this exact same time trial in the TDU of division 1a.
So, there is a good chance he is going to celebrate his 4th NT time trial victory in a row.

Also points are expected of Scafidi and Marsile, the nrs 2 & 12 of CFF, despite that the 88km is not really in their favor.
And it might be possible that one (ór a few-) of the other Italians can score points too, if the luck factor is high.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 4 :

Salvatore Vergottini ( 28 ) °Peachy°Melocotons
Fabian Scafidi ( 25 ) Lukara
Vicenzo Marsile ( 30 ) Neresan
Filippo Fortticcini ( 32 ) PedaleSanvitese
Vittorio Spadaro ( 30 ) Flyvende_hjul
Giacommo Corioni ( 26 ) Lukara
Enzo Marzano ( 25 ) Facha_Bartolo     ( debutto )
Jacopo Riggotto ( 26 ) Lukara
- - - - - - - - - -
Alessio Panettiere ( 22 ) Lukara

[Vos]

NT race 4 results ;
1    Salvatore Vergottini      28   0: 00"   300      °Peachy°Melocotons
8    Fabian Scafidi              25   0: 10"   140      Lukara
12    Vicenzo Marsile              30   0: 11"   100      Neresan

These 540 total points is a lot less than the NT time trial of previous season (= 730 ).
But of course happy with the victory, and also very nice ; Italia scored the most points in this 88km time trial. 


GARA 5 :  Cuenca

30ºC

Guadalajara, Spain,
All 6 golden cobblehills riders are selected, because the Italian top contender(= nr 4 cobblehills ranking) needs full support.
Happy new year everyone !

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 5 :

Frederico Gucciardo ( 31 ) Flyvende_hjul
Roberto Salerno ( 29 ) MaretiCT
Maurizio Pannucchi ( 27 ) Kroton
Giusto Quaranta ( 29 ) FaltososDeChigre
Albano Maldini ( 30 ) MagoMerlierPPR
Sergio Cattaneo* ( 28 ) Ale8SevCyclingTeam
- - - - - - - - - -
Fabian Scafidi* ( 25 ) Lukara
Alessio Panettiere ( 22 ) Lukara
Giulio Giorgetti ( 23 ) LOSRAYOSDELARRY     ( debutto )

[Vos]

NT race 5 ;  zero points 
Because the Italian captain ( a top favorite ), had an inexplicable, complete off-day.


GARA 6 :  Saint Vulbas

24ºC

Cluses, France ( 45 km south east of Genève ),
There is only one Italian with a golden hill-sprint icon, and he is very low ranked as nr 85 (of the hill-sprint ranking, not incl. flat-sprint).
Normally I would not expect points. But now with the storm, maybe a little chance if many rivals mess up ánd if he is very lucky.

Due to the 3x wind, I selected many silver cyclists to try to ride in a wide range of tactical possibilities.
Also because it could be the last opportunity to really race this NT season ; Italy is very bad in race 7, even worse as in this race 6.
In the last race 7 it will be a NT selection with many xp-cyclists.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 6 :

Pasquale Lattanzi ( 26 ) Galletto
Filippo Salvati ( 24 ) KunTeam
Emanuele Montalbano ( 27 ) Anglers
Renato Riveccio ( 24 ) Kelme4ever
Santino Mastrilli ( 32 ) Estoparia
Giancarlo Ziccardi ( 24 ) Combuijs     ( debutto )
Franco Zazzarino ( 25 ) Koxme_Team     ( debutto )
Aldo Carletti ( 29 ) Sonfuga     ( debutto )
- - - - - - - - - -
Fabian Scafidi ( 25 ) Lukara

[Vos]

NT race 6 ;  as expected, zero points.
The very low ranked Italian captain managed to finish in the 3rd group, but only the best 4 of that group could score a few points.
And he came nowhere near those best 4 and ended up as 43rd.


GARA 7 :  Reims

34ºC

Roubaix, France,
The only Italian with a golden flat-cobble icon is 33yo and very low ranked. Maybe he will lose his golden icon before Sunday.
He did not score points as 32yo captain in previous NT season, and also now I expect zero points.
But he is the best Italian, and against all odds, desperately he will try to score a few points.
He gets just one helper, who might be even the only Italian with a silver flat-cobble icon.

Italy is very bad in flat-cobble, with as positive consequence that many xp-cyclists are selected.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 7 :

Giulio Pellasci ( 33 ) Goesting
Fiorenzo Mangili ( 28 ) AVP
- - - - - - - - - -
Fabian Scafidi* ( 25 ) Lukara
Alessio Panettiere ( 22 ) Lukara
Ezio Caneschi* ( 21 ) TeamSerfin
Frederico Pinicci ( 24 ) SPORTLIFE
Davide Baccara ( 25 ) ReturnOfOrange
Giulio Giorgetti ( 23 ) LOSRAYOSDELARRY
Remo Iantosca* ( 22 ) SaulSalinasTeam

[Vos]

NT race 7 = zero points.

In this last race, Italy dropped from the 3rd place to the 5th place.
Well, justified, because with zero points in the last 3 races, we did not deserve a podium place in the final season ranking.

Congratulations to the lucky USA, because Ukraine has the exact same total points ( maybe unique that nrs 1 + 2 have the same total ).

[Vos]

programma della stagione 52 =

1.   Getxo  HHHHH  166 km

2.   Grimselpass  MDMDM  125 km

3.   Salsomaggiore Terme  FFFFF  173 km

4.   Torino  TT-FFFFF  31 km

5.   Vlaanderen  FCHC^H 256 km

6.   Giffoni Valle Piana  F^HF^HH  210 km

7.   Roubaix  FCFCC  259 km

This is a better season schedule compared to previous season. 
Now a pure climb race, instead of a semi-flat-climb race.
But the biggest difference is that the extra race is a flat-hills race.
I do expect points in that NT race 6, in contrast to the extra race( hill-sprint ) of previous season.
Only in the last race it is a certain zero points, and it will be an entire xp-cyclists-selection in Roubaix.


Good luck everyone with scouting in Italy ! 

[Vos]

GARA 1 : Getxo

8ºC

Getxo, Spain,
All 6 Italians with a golden icon are selected, added with the best silver Italian, who is the only one with an active weather icon*.
Despite that captain Cocco is not high ranked ( nr 23 pure-hills ranking ), he did magnificient in previous season by finishing as 3º.
But now, already a great result if he can finish top 10 again, what he did four times before in his NT career ( 3º, 5º, 7º, 9º ).

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 1 :

Max Cocco ( 31 ) MaretiCT
Ivano Mangili ( 30 ) Shiro_Lions
Amauri Bettino ( 29 ) Estoparia
Cristian Veroli ( 25 ) MortoviaCycling
Santino Mastrilli ( 33 ) Estoparia
Samuele Nardello* ( 30 ) Shiro_Lions
Rocco Chiappucci ( 32 ) Speedbird
- - - - - - - - - -
Fabian Scafidi ( 26 ) Lukara
Alessio Panettiere ( 23 ) Lukara

[Vos]

NT race 1 = zero points !   
Unexpectedly the captain dropped in s2.
Also a big surprise that he dropped even further in s3, and finished as last of all Italian hills-specialists.


GARA 2 :  Grimselpass

38ºC

Ulrichen, Switzerland,
Italia has a strong selection, and it is up to captain Fortticcini ( nr 2 pure-climb of CFF ) to try to win this race.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 2 :

Lauro Fortticcini ( 32 ) Estoparia
Davide Baccara ( 26 ) Turrones
Frederico Pinicci ( 25 ) SPORTLIFE
Giulio Giorgetti ( 24 ) LOSRAYOSDELARRY
Valerio Forte ( 24 ) LOSRAYOSDELARRY
Simone Giardini ( 30 ) Turrones
Massimiliano Fazzini ( 31 ) GiabbaStar
Domenico Avenatti ( 24 ) Aspigarri
- - - - - - - - - -
Fabian Scafidi* ( 26 ) Lukara

[Vos]

NT race 2 result ;
3    Lauro Fortticcini      32   0: 06"   225      Estoparia
Not a bad result of the captain. But I was hoping on extra points with free roles and they dissapointed a lot.


GARA 3 : Salsomaggiore Terme

11ºC

Modena, Italy,
It will be a lottery with the 2x wind, but hopefully the sprint captain (= nr 16 golden flat-sprint ranking ) can score points.

All just 3 golden flat-sprinters are selected, added with the best silver flat-sprinter.
And added with 2 top-talents as possible extra helpers, who both have the potential to become better as the current sprint captain.

3 TT-specialists of Lukara get xp-selections ; the nrs 2 + 83 + 8 of the golden flat-TT-ranking. The 23yo will rise a lot, probably to nr 4.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 3 :

Emanuele Montalbano ( 28 ) Anglers
Cristiano Maranesi ( 28 ) FlyEaglesFly
Daniele Vasari ( 28 ) woodwatch
Filippo Salvati ( 25 ) KunTeam
Remo Iantosca ( 23 ) SaulSalinasTeam
Ezio Caneschi* ( 22 ) TeamSerfin
- - - - - - - - - -
Fabian Scafidi ( 26 ) Lukara
Alessio Panettiere ( 23 ) Lukara
Giacommo Corioni ( 27 ) Lukara

[Vos]

NT race 3 result ;
9    Emanuele Montalbano      28   0: 00"   130      Anglers

The wind had a big influence ( 52 - 45 - 29 - 5 - 17 ), but all Italian helpers did an amazing job in this windy sprint race.
Only 22yo top-talent Caneschi dropped in s3. And still 4 helpers in the 2nd group( 43 ) of s4.
The little break-away-group of just 5 in s4, those were not captains, and the Italian captain outsprinted 4 of them in the final.
9th is not a bad result, and I should be happy with that, because it could have been a zero points race too, due to the wind.
But it is also not an excellent result. And Italy needed that after the disaster-race-1 and the bit-dissapointing-race-2.
Now it is up to the Italian TT-specialists to score many points and move up a lot from the current 9th place (=600 points behind nr 1 ).


GARA 4 : Torino

36ºC

Chieri, Italy,
In previous season just 540 Italian points in the NT time trial of 88km. I expect more points in this 31km TT.
Vergottini is again thé top-favorite who hopefully achieves his 5th NT-time-trial-victory in a row( ! ).
Special thanks to the Italian team Lukara, because 5 of his TT-specialists made it into this NT selection( of best 9 Italians ).

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 4 :

Salvatore Vergottini ( 29 ) °Peachy°Melocotons
Fabian Scafidi* ( 26 ) Lukara
Vicenzo Marsile ( 31 )  Neresan
Giacommo Corioni ( 27 )  Lukara
Vittorio Spadaro ( 31 )  Flyvende_hjul
Enzo Marzano* ( 26 )  Facha_Bartolo
Jacopo Riggotto ( 27 )  Lukara
Alessio Panettiere ( 23 )  Lukara
Massimiliano Palandrani ( 33 ) Lukara

[Vos]

NT race 4 results ;

1    Fabian Scafidi         26   0: 00"   300      Lukara
3    Vicenzo Marsile         31   0: 02"   225      Neresan
8    Salvatore Vergottini   29   0: 06"   140      °Peachy°Melocotons
17    Giacommo Corioni   27   0: 12"   40      Lukara

Remarkable results. But still an Italian victory ( of Scafidi ! ), despite that top-favorite Vergottini dissapointed a lot.
Marsile was perhaps the most positive surprise, as the just nr 16 of the golden flat-TT ranking.
Italy moves up to the 2nd place in the season ranking, thanks to these 705 total points in this time trial.


GARA 5 :  Vlaanderen

23ºC

Bruges, Belgium,
It will be a difficult race because of the storm. Hopefully the captain can achieve a good result.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 5 :

Frederico Gucciardo ( 32 ) Flyvende_hjul
Roberto Salerno ( 30 ) galegospolabici
Maurizio Pannucchi ( 28 ) Kroton
Giusto Quaranta ( 30 ) AG2SM
- - - - - - - - - -
Alessio Panettiere ( 23 ) Lukara
Ezio Caneschi* ( 22 ) TeamSerfin
Giusto Donadoni ( 19 ) SPORTLIFE    ( debutto )
Simone Zimbaldi ( 19 ) Matterhorn    ( debutto )
Alfio Cadamuro ( 21 ) Rekutxuteam    ( debutto )

[Vos]

NT race 5 result ;
7    Frederico Gucciardo      32   0: 11"   150      Flyvende_hjul

GARA 6 :  Giffoni Valle Piana

3ºC

Diamante, Italy,
All 6 Italians with a golden hills icon are selected.
Cocco or Mangili will be the captain, both are not high ranked, but I expect points and a revanche for the very bad hills-race 1.

Nazionale Italiana, selezione gara 6 :

Max Cocco ( 31 ) Estoparia
Ivano Mangili ( 30 ) Shiro_Lions
Amauri Bettino ( 29 ) Estoparia
Cristian Veroli ( 25 ) MortoviaCycling
Rocco Chiappucci ( 32 ) woodwatch
Santino Mastrilli ( 33 ) Estoparia
- - - - - - - - - -
Fabian Scafidi ( 26 ) Lukara
Alessio Panettiere ( 23 ) Lukara
Ezio Caneschi ( 22 ) TeamSerfin