Malori takes the tricolore

In the absence of five time winner Marco Pinotti, who is still recovering from a fractured hip incurred at the Giro d’Italia, Adriano Malori (Lampre ISD) stepped up to take the Italian Elite men’s time trial title in Sicily.

The former Under 23 world and European champion used his power to blast around the 28.7km course in a time of 34:53, seven seconds faster than fellow young time trialing talent Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank - Sungard). Alan Marangoni (Liquigas-Cannondale) was third, 46 seconds slower.

New Italian road race champion Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli) recovered well from his effort just 24 earlier to finish fifth at 1:11.

Malori will get a chance to show off his tricolore jersey in the team time trial at the Tour de France next Sunday.

“I’m really happy. Before the race everyone said I’d win easily but it was never that sure,” Malori said.

“In the end I won by just a few seconds. It was a very hard race because of the hot conditions and the strong wind. I’ve worked hard to be good for this race and want to dedicate my win to the team and a friend of mine outside of cycling that has always helped me in my difficult moments.”

“You never get used to winning and to wear a jersey like the tricolore in the professional peloton is a huge honour for me.”