One of the most coveted cycling jerseys will be handed out later this afternoon when the Italian road race championships are held on a hilly 229km route in Northeastern Italy. With the notable exceptions of Vincenzo Nibali and Giovanni Visconti, most of the Italian cycling elite will take to the start line and battle it out for the honour of succeeding Franco Pellizotti as the country's leading rider. Starting at 14.40, you can follow the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

The Tour de France looms in the horizon but most riders still have one final chance to test their legs this weekend when the national championships are held in most countries. One of the most spectacular of those has always been the Italian and this year's course is set to offer another great race.

The hilly Italian one-day race Trofeo Melinda has been rescheduled to the weekend of the national championships, has increased its distance this year and will double as the national championships race this year. The race has a rich history and is usually won by strong climbers and Ardennes specialists, Carlos Betancur, Davide Rebellin, Vincenzo Nibali and Giovanni Visconti being the most recent winners.

The race starts with 107 rather hilly kilometres which lead to the first passage of the finish line. The race finishes with 4 laps on a tough 30,5km finishing circuit which mostly consists of a long climb and its subsequent  descent. The finish line is located midway up the ascent, thus making for a tough finale.

Vincenzo Nibali still enjoys a break from competition and Giovanni Visconti is absent due to his recent Tour de Suisse crash. With those notable exceptions, the start list includes most of the finest talent Italy has to offer.

Lampre has a three-pronged approach with its three climbers all taking to the start line. Diego Ulissi hopes to have recovered from his Tour de Suisse crash, Michele Scarponi will show off his Giro condition one final time ahead of his mid-season break and Damaino Cunego needs to show some Tour form.

Cannondale lines up Moreno Moser who is just one week shy of his debut at the Tour de France and he will be supported by Damiano Caruso who appears to suffer from fatigue after the recent Giro d'Italia. Defending champion Franco Pellizotti showed some splendid form at the recent Route du Sud and the same goes for another veteran, Davide Rebellin, who recently finished second in the queen stage at the Ster ZLM Toer.

At the same time, other pro continental riders like Matte Rabottini and Stefano Pirazzi are expected to put up a fight while riders on foreign ProTeams like Enrico Gasparotto, Fabio Aru, Simone Ponzi, Rinaldo Nocentini, Matteo Montaguti, Giampaolo Caruso and Marco Marcato hope to overcome their lack of team support to take home the title. With such a splendid line-up and an intriguing route, we are surely in for a spectacular race this afternoon which should give one last gauge of the forms of some of the Italian Tour riders.

Starting at 14.40, you can follow the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.