Manuele Boaro (Saxo-Tinkoff) was fifth(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Marco Pinotti (BMC) the new Italian time trial champion(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
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.
