Fabio Aru solos to first Italian road race title

Fabio Aru (Astana) claimed his first win of 2017 at the Italian national championship road race on Sunday, right on time ahead of his second Tour de France appearance. The 26-year-old soloed to victory in Ivrea, with UAE Team Emirates' Diego Ulissi claiming second and Rinaldo Nocentini (Sporting Clube de Portugal/Tavria) rounding out the podium in third.

"I'm really happy to win today after all the difficult moments I experienced this year", Aru said after his victory. "Initially the course might have looked easy but the climb was really hard. On Tuesday, I came to recon it with Paolo [Tiralongo]. From then on, I believed I had my chance to become the Italian champion. I never experienced that before. In the u23, I finished second. That was my best result so far. I'm really happy to have made my dream come true today. It's an immense satisfaction. The competition was so high with [Gianni] Moscon, [Damiano] Caruso, my friend Diego Ulissi and many others on good form."

The Italian championship was organized by RCS Sport from Asti to Ivrea in Piedmont as if it was the Gran Piemonte won in September last year by the 2016 Italian champion Giacomo Nizzolo. But it was a harder course this time around, with a seven-kilometre climb of La Serra to be done four times on a final circuit of 21.3 kilometres. Enrico Battaglin (LottoNL-Jumbo), Simone Sterbini (Bardiani CSF) and Ettore Carlini (d'Amico Ustensilnord), the attackers from kilometre 22, got caught in the second last lap by a group of 25 riders that included all the favourites, among them Vincenzo Nibali, who riding in support of Bahrain-Merida teammate Giovanni Visconti. However, the strong selection couldn't hold Aru in check.

"My plan was to go flat out from the bottom of the climb in the last lap," said Aru who followed the plan at perfection. "Once I made a gap, I was informed kilometre by kilometre. I couldn't believe it when I heard that I was 40 seconds ahead. Looking at the speed, I was always between 50 and 52 kilometres an hour. I was feeling strong."

"Being four riders swapping turns, we didn't regain any time on Fabio", third-placed Nocentini noted. "He impressed me really. As I saw him going as strongly at the Dauphiné, I understood he would be hard to beat. I hope he'll win the Tour de France too. I'm looking forward to see another Italian in the yellow jersey, like me eight years ago and Nibali three years ago. It's very important for me to make the podium of the Italian championship. Being part of a Portuguese team, I almost never race in Italy. Two months ago I didn't know if I'd ride the nationals or not. When I decided to do it, I prepared well for it."

Runner up Ulissi was also full of praise for Aru. "He demonstrated to have better legs than anyone else", the Tuscan said. "He deserves the win. As for myself, I can go to the Tour de France with ambition. The good work is paying off. I hope to win a stage."

Aru concluded the afternoon on a serious note with emotional words for his tragically deceased team-mate Michele Scarponi. "During a training ride in Sierra Nevada, we exchanged jerseys because I had the extra-small size and I wanted to try the small," the Sardinian revealed. "I haven't told anyone but since I've resumed racing, I've been racing with Michele's jersey. I wanted to offer it after my first victory to his wife Anna and his children Giacomo and Tommaso. I'll deliver the jersey to them."

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