Italians fail to make impact in Worlds finale
Worst finish for Azzurri since 1983



The post mortems will begin in earnest in Italy on Monday morning and extend over the weeks and months to come after 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Daniele Bennati lost track of his lead-out and floundered to 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:come in 14th behind Mark Cavendish in the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:UCI World Championships on Sunday. It 🌞was the squadra azzurra's worst p💞lacing in the Worlds since Giuseppe Saronni finished 17th in Altenrheim all the way back in 1983.
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Luca Paolini offered his snap judgement of the Italian performance after he rolled to a halt in the pits shortly after the finish. The veteran fulfilled the duties assigned to him beforehand by infiltrating a threatening mid-race break but his team made little further impact as an attacking force, save for a couple of short-lived digs from 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Giovanni Visconti which quickly fizzled out.
"I'd give us a seven, maybe a seven-and-a-half out of ten, because I heard there were problems in the train in the last kilometre, and this didn't allow us to lead out a clean sprint for Bennati," Paolini told Cyclingnews. "Before that we tried to make the race a little more stretched. Maybe we were lacking another man with me in the break, but when we get back to the hotel we'll have a m𝓰eeting and weigh it upꦫ."
The Italian federation's decision to bar riders who have served suspensions for doping offences from lining up meant that there wa🦹s a youthful feel to coach Paolo Bettini's team. Paolini, who was investigated as part of the Operazione Athena doping inquiry but has never been sanctioned, was the one the few riders with significant Worlds experience. Italy's regista, or road captain, in recent seasons, the 2004 bronze medallist was assigned a more active role in Denmark, as the Italians sought to put Cavenꦏdish and the British team under pressure.
"This year I did the Vuelta and that gave me the sharpness and the form to risk a little more❀," Paolini said. "I fel🅺t really good and I got in a move that we were hoping might even have put Cavendish's men and the other sprinters in a bit of crisis. We were looking to make them expend as much energy as possible but they were too strong. The strongest man won today."
Paolini was joined on the attack by two riders🐠 each from France and Belgium, (Yoann Offredo, Antho🍨ny Ravard, Johan Van Summeren and Olivier Kaisen), with Australia's Simon Clarke policing affairs for Matt Goss.
"We had the same intentions as the French and the Belgian൲s, so we got on fine, but then there were other riders who didn't coll💮aborate because they thought they had quicker riders behind," he said.
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After Paolini et al. were brought to heel, however, there was precious little sign of the Italians at the head of the bunch as the British squad wound up the pace to shut down a brace of late moves featuring Thomas Voeckler (France). Bradley Wiggins stretched out the race still further on a final lap before It🥃aly's putative lead-out train was derailed on the approach to the drag to the line.
"We fell apart on the last roundabout," Manuel Quinziato explained. "In front we went on the outside and Bennati was left shut in on th☂e outside. It all finished there."
"I got bottled up," Bennati admitted. "We didn't manage to organise ourselves and it's a pity. I'm not a sprinter like Cavendish who can manoeuvre alone. I need to be led out."

Barry Ryan was Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argen🥀tina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Inde🌞pendent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of , published by Gill Books.