Bronze medal for Colbrelli at Italian champs

(texte original: Merida International)

At the national cycling championships of Italy and Spain, respectively riders of Team Bahrain-McLaren finished in the top5 twice: After an animated race in the Veneto region Sonny Colbrelli sprinted to a 3rd place whereas Ivan Cortina missed out on the silver medal by a few seconds and ended up in 4th.

Many national cycling federations organized their national road championships this weekend. The course of the Italian road championships held in the Veneto region featured a loop with a longer but nicely paved climb and a short, but very steep and cobbled climb. The race distance measured 253.7 kilometers, with the final 25 kilometers leading downhill or being flat. Team Bahrain-McLaren sent four riders into the Italian championships race: Sonny Colbrelli was the team's designated captain and he could rely on the assistance of Enrico Battaglin, Eros Capecchi and Damiano Caruso. For the first hours of racing, various groups of attackers took charge of things.

But with 50 kilometers to go the race situation reshaped and a group of about 30 riders including all pre-race favourites emerged. In this group, Team Bahrain-McLaren was well represented with Colbrelli, Battaglin and Caruso. With 30 kilometers to go, a series of attacks on the steep cobbled climb shattered this group and Sonny Colbrelli managed to stay in the first group on the road, counting a dozen riders. This did not change anymore despite attacks from DeMarchi, Nibali and Ulissi. Sonny Colbrelli was the first sprinter to accelerate, but Giacomo Nizzolo and Davide Ballerini jumped from his slipstream and passed him. Colbrelli had no chance to make amends anymore and thus had to settle for 3rd place and the Bronze medal.

Due to the heat the elite men's championship race in Spain already started at 9am in the morning. The only rider of Team Bahrain-McLaren to ride this race over a hilly 185 kilometers in the Jaén province was Ivan Garcia Cortina. And the race situation really looked promising for Cortina for a long time: He had survived various attacks and was the best sprinter in the remaining group of favourites. But he was also on his own and could not react to every single attack. On the last climb with about 7 kilometers to go two riders each of the teams Cofidis and Astana managed to get away. Ivan Cortina tried his best to set this situation straight but he could not close the gap anymore. In the end he won the sprint for 4th place, missing out on 2nd place by only 7 seconds.

ITALIAN NATIONAL ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS, ELITE MEN
BASSANO DEL GRAPPA - CITADELLA, 253.7 KILOMETERS
1. Giacomo Nizzolo, ITA, in 5:48.37 hours
2. Davide Ballerini, ITA, st
3. Sonny Colbrelli, ITA/Team Bahrain-McLaren, st

SPANISH NATIONAL ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS, ELITE MEN
UBEDA - BAEZA, 185.16 KILOMETER
1. Luis Leon Sanchez, ESP, in 4:24.20 hours
2. Gorka Izagirre, ESP, + 0.15
3. Vicente Garcia de Mateos, ESP, st
4. Ivan Garcia Cortina, ESP/Team Bahrain-McLaren, + 0.22