With the Olympic road race in Beijing now less than three weeks away, world champion Paolo Bettini continues to fine-tune his form for the last major goal of his career. On Sunday in Pescara, Bettini took the 63rd Trofeo Matteotti in a five-man sprint and said his form is progressing well after a training camp in the mountainous Abruzzo region of central Italy. Prior to that, the Italian had taken his first victory of the season on stage one of the Tour of Austria.
"The Matteotti race is the conclusion of a very intense training cycle we've been undergoing recently on the roads of Abruzzo," said Bettini. "We feel good and our pedalling is improving day by day. It was definitely a good test considering the distance and the temperature, which remained steady at about 35 degrees."
