Pinotti takes sixth Italian time trial title

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Marco Pinotti took his sixth Italian time trial title, using his experience and aptitude against the clock to complete a dominant weekend for his BMC team that secured the road race title on Saturday with Ivan Santaromita.

Pinotti has fought back from a nasty broken collarbone injury and was overlooked for a place in the BMC line-up for the Tour de France but dominated the hilly 39km time trial, beating Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole-Csf Inox) and Adriano Malori Lampre-Merida), 2012 winner Dario Cataldo (Team Sky) was fourth after being stung on the ear by a wasp during his ride.

Pinotti set a time of 49:04, with Pirazzi finishing in 50:15, Malori in 50:32 and Cataldo in a time of 50:47. He was fastest by 40- seconds at the time split and continued to gain time on his rivals all the way to the finish.

"It was a nice course, tough but fast," Pinotti said.

"I thought about retiring when I had my accident but after the initial tough moment, I put a circle around the date of June 23 on the calendar. Here I am!"

Pinotti spent last week with the Italian national team and his victory in the tricolore time trial should seal him a place in the Italian team for the world road race championships in Florence in September.

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