Grande Giorgia!

And for the third time in 4 years, an Italian girl is World Champion (2007 Bastianelli, 2009 Guderzo, 2010 Bronzini) :D :DLast year, after Guderzo's great victory, Michele Scarponi came up with the sentence: 'Altro che Guderzo,dovevano chiamarla Guprimo!!' which, translated in a not very precise way, sounds a bit like : 'she shouldn't have been called Guderzo ('Guthird'), she should have been called Gufirst'.
This year, after Bronzini's equally great victory, I'm sure that someone else tomorrow on the newspaper will come up with the 'Altro che Bronzini, dovevano chiamarla Orini!' sentence(translation: "she shouldn't have been called 'Little bronzes', she should have been called 'little golds!'"). Luckily Giorgia Bronzini is used to this kind of not-so-funny jokes, since in 2009 she won the points race at the World Track Championships. And now, Giorgia has become World Champion on the Road. What a champion!

For those of you who, like me, couldn't see the race live, here's a Youtube video about the last km (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-s8G-SMi64 ).
Cooke and Arndt attacked during the last lap and they managed to stay clear of the peloton until they reached the 200 meters to go. At that point Vos started her sprint and rode past the two tired riders. Behind the Dutch rider there were the Swedish Emma Johansson and the Italian Giorgia Bronzini,who eventually managed to raise her arms in triumph and cross the finish-line first. Poor Marianne Vos got her 4th silver medal in a row, while Emma Johansson was third although she hit the arm of a supporter during the very last meters of race.

The Italian team was as good as usual, with all the girls giving it all not just for themselves but also for their teammates. In particular, Guderzo and Cantele were very good in understanding that the other girls wouldn't have let them free of escaping from the peloton and so they put themselves to Giorgia's service. The other exceptional riders on La Squadra were Elena Berlato, Elena Berlato, Giorgia Bronzini, Rossella Callovi, Noemi Cantele, Valentina Carretta, Eleonora Patuzzo e Luisa Tamanini (Baccaille was the reserve). Congratulations to all of them-and to Giorgia in particular :)

Here's the top 10 of the race:
1 Giorgia Bronzini (Italy) 3:32:01
2 Marianne Vos (Netherlands)
3 Emma Johansson (Sweden)
4 Nicole Cooke (Great Britain)
5 Judith Arndt (Germany) 0:00:01
6 Grace Verbeke (Belgium) 0:00:03
7 Trixi Worrack (Germany)
8 Rasa Leleivyte (Lithuania)
9 Elizabeth Armitstead (Great Britain)
10 Carla Swart (South Africa) “It was the most beautiful sprint of my life. The girls believed in me right to the end even though I suffered a lot on the climb, and I repaid them. We’re great group. We are the best", Bronzini told the journalists after her victory, which she dedicated to Franco Ballerini and to Marina Romoli. Well done girl!!

(Pictures by Riccardo Scanferla)