Marco Pinotti won his fourth career national t🉐ime trial title on Saturday in Imola, Italy. He finished the 32.3-kilometre course from Mordano to Imola's Formula 1 race track ahead of Gabriele Bosisio and Maurizio Biondo to take the win for the third year in a row.

Pinotti set a time of 39:22 seconds. Bosisio was the only rider to finish within a minute of the Columbia-Highroad ma꧅n, just 19 second🎃s in arrears. Biondo was 1:09 behind.

"I came out of the Giro d'Italia in very good shape," Pinotti said. "Then I deliberately didn't do the Tour of Switzerland so I could focus on the It♕alian national championships. It was a course that suited me well, fast at the start and then afterwards a bit hillier when we got on the circuit."

"The hardest part was handling the rain, it was the same for everybody but it made the course a bit dangerous – m༒y back wheel slipped a couple of times."

One of the pre-race favourites Marzio Bruseghin was one of the unfortunate victims of the slick conditions, and lost his chance at taking the tricolore when he cra🌼shed 12km into the race. He lost a minute changing bikes, and finished sixth.

Pinotti, as last rider to start,♍ said he rode most of the race unaware of whether his times were good enough to get him the win.

"I knew that I was ahead after 12 kilometres, but that was it. Afterwards I just kept going, I'd done the course the day before so I knew roughly how to calcula💃te my strength."

Pinotti's fourth Italian time trial title makes him the outright record-holder for wins in the event. He was pre🦹viously tied on victories❀ with Marco Velo, who won in 1998, 1999 and 2000.