The new Italian Road Race Champion Fabio Aru said: “Initially the course might have looked easy but the climb was really hard. On Tuesday, I came to recce it with Paolo [Tiralongo]. From then on, I believed I had my chance to become the Italian champion. I never experienced that before. In the u23, I finished second. That was my best result so far. I’m really happy to have made my dream come true today. It’s an immense satisfaction. The competition was so high with [Gianni] Moscon, [Damiano] Caruso, my friend Diego Ulissi and many others on good form. My plan was to go flat out from the bottom of the climb in the last lap. Once I made a gap, I was informed kilometer by kilometer. I couldn’t believe it when I heard that I was 40 seconds ahead. Looking at the speed, I was always between 50 and 52km/h. During a training ride in Sierra Nevada, Michele Scarponi and I exchanged jerseys because I had the xs size and I wanted to try the s. I haven’t told anyone but since I’ve resumed racing, I’ve been racing with Michele’s jersey. I wanted to offer it after my first victory to his wife Anna and his children Giacomo and Tommaso. Here it is.”
Diego Ulissi said:“I’m happy because Fabio [Aru] was really strong. He showed that he has better legs than anyone else. Even though we were chasing hard, he increased his lead. He deserves the win. As for myself, I can go to the Tour de France with ambition. The good work is paying off.”
Rinaldo Nocentini said:“It’s very important for me to make the podium of the Italian championship. Being part of a Portuguese team, I almost never race in Italy. Two months ago I didn’t know if I’d ride the nationals or not. When I decided to do it, I prepared well for it. When I saw Fabio Aru going as strongly as at the Dauphiné, I understood he would be hard to beat. He impressed me really.”