Nibali wins Italy's GP Camaiore one-day race

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Vincenzo Nibali held on to his excellent form from the Tour de France to score a solo win in the GP Camaiore – the second victory for him this year after the Giro dell'Appenino.

After coming in seventh overall at the Tour, the "shark of the strait" as he's nicknamed in reference to his Sicilian origins, the young Italian fell ill, but rebounded in a spectacular way on Saturday.

"When I came back from Paris, I had fever for two days and I was forced to cancel a few criteriums," Nibali explained. "Because of that, I didn't expect to be in such a good form here but with three laps to go (about 60km), I've told my teammates that I was feeling great."

After a long breakaway of Matteo Montaguti (LPR) and Dainius Kairelis (Ceramica Flaminia) from kilometre 30 through 142, the Liquigas rider forged his success on the last ascent to the Monte Pitoro where he went away with defending champion Leonardo Bertagnolli (Diquigiovanni), Massimo Giunti (Miche) and Giampaolo Caruso (Ceramica Flaminia).

Nibali dropped them off in the downhill with 5km to go. "I felt I would have lost the sprint against Bertagnolli and Giunti," he justified. "I have already proven in the past that I'm good going downhill. I never looked back and I felt in the last kilometre that I had made it."

On Monday, Nibali will start a 10-day training camp with Liquigas in San Pellegrino before returning to competition to the Eneco Tour, then to the GP Plouay where he collected his first big pro win three years ago.

There's no Vuelta a Espana on his race schedule. He will instead take on a series of races leading up to the World championship, providing that Italian technical director Franco Ballerini will select him.

The former winner of Paris-Roubaix was impressed by Nibali's ride on the roads of Tuscany. He acknowledged that the course in Mendrisio suits the "shark of the straits" who might well be a card for Italy to play towards the succession of Alessandro Ballan.