Cecchini defends Italian road title

Elena Cecchini (GS Fiamme Azzurre) successfully defended her national title in the road race in Boario Terme on Sunday. It was the third national title for the Canyon-SRAM rider, who was racing for another team this weekend. Cecchini won the race solo, beating time trial champion Elisa Longo Borghini and Anna Zita Maria Stricker.

"I'm really pleased with this result. Not just the win but the way I did it today," Cecchini said. 

The women's road race, held a day ahead of the men's, was a 120km course. The first to make a significant move was Simona Frapporti, who launched a solo attack at 36km into the race and gained over two minutes. Ilaria Sanguineti (BePink) tried to bridge across but wasn't able to fully connect with the solo leader and was reabsorbed into the field.

Frapporti's day out front came to an end at the 83km mark. 

Elisa Longo Borghini Group (GS Fiamme Oro) was the next to go, followed by Cecchini, Tatiana Guderzo Rossella Ratto (GS Fiamme Azzurre), Soraya Paladin (Top Girls - Fassa Bortolo), Anna Zita Maria Stricker (INPA-Bianchi) and Giorgia Bronzini (Forest cycles Olympia).

Cecchini made her winning move with seven kilometres to go and crossed the line for a third time as the Italian road champion. Longo Borghini put forth a strong chase for second place, while Stricker won the chase group sprint for third.

"So on the final lap I attacked," Cecchini said. "At one point I lost an overview of how long to go because I was just focused on the attack and I had a headwind and it was so hard at that moment. I saw that I had a 15-second lead and when I passed 10km to go I thought 'oh my, I'm not going to be able to do this.'

"But I just kept going full gas and when I got to the final climb I had 30 seconds on Elisa, and at the top still 20 seconds. So I went full gas on the descent and then there was just 1km to go. When I passed the finish I had to lie down. I was exhausted." 

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