Moreno Moser targets Italian title on home roads

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Moreno Moser (Cannondale)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Moreno Moser is the favourite for the Elite men's Italian road race championship on Saturday which covers a tough 229km route on his home roads in the Val di Non, close to Trento.

22 year-old Moser, the nephew of seventies legend and hour record holder Francesco Moser, finished third in last year's title behind Franco Pellizotti and Danilo Di Luca and was second in the Trofeo Melinda, the race which hosts this year's title race. Despite struggling to repeat his success of the 2012 season, Moser won the Strade Bianche race in the spring and played a key role in much of Peter Sagan's success at the Cannondale team, including at the recent Tour de Suisse.

The field will roll out from the start in Malé’s Piazza Regina Elena and head southwest along the valley towards Dimaro. There the riders will swing left off the main road and into Dimaro, which they’ll roll through before turning back towards Malé and then further north east to Livo. Aside from a few sweeping bends, there’s nothing on the route to trouble the riders as they make their way gradually downhill to Mostizzolo. But the fun will begin as soon as they pass through that village, as the next 20km to Rumo are all uphill.

At Rumo, the riders turn right and head downhill again, this time along a wooded hillside to Revo. From there, the field embarks upon an approximately 50km-long loop taking them south and further downhill towards Denno before turning around and gradually climbing back to Revo. On their second arrival at Revo, the riders will pass through the village then swing left to head north and start the first of their four and a half laps of the 20km finishing circuit. Revo sits 750m above sea level and the first 10km of the lap will see the riders gain a further 319m of elevation as they climb up through Fondo (where they’ll eventually finish) and on to the race’s highest point at Ronzone. After Ronzone, it’s downhill back to Revo to start the next lap.

You can get the full preview of the Italian National Road Race in this week’s issue of Cycling News HD. This week’s issue looks forward at the key national road races, with routes and full start lists. We take a look back and Rui Costa’s second consecutive win, at the Tour de Suisse. All with stunning photography and in depth analysis. Plus an exclusive interview Jakob Fuglsang, as he embarks on three of the most important weeks of his career.