After a second place in the Coppa Agostoni, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) confirmed that he is ready for a great end to the season by winning the second race in the Trittico Lombardo race series, Coppa Bernocchi. After attacking relentlessly, he joined a six-rider group that kept the peloton at bay and finally he accelerated inside the final kilometre to take a solo win. Mauro Finetto (Southeast) beat Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep) in the sprint for second.

When Vincenzo Nibali was disqualified from the Vuelta a Espana, many believed that it would be hard for the former Tour champion to find the motivation for the final part of the season. However, he has proved his critics wrong right from his first races back and has suddenly marked himself out as a dark horse for the Worlds and a favourite for Il Lombardia.

Yesterday he finished seconds behind Davide Rebellin (CCC) in his first race back, Coppa Agostoni, after the pair had held off the chasers with an impressive performance. Today he surprised even more by taking a solo win in the second race in the Trittico Lombardo series, the Coppa Bernocchi which has traditionally been a race for sprinters.

"Yesterday I messed it up, today I could not do it again," he told Tuttobiciweb. "I did good work, but I must say that we had good collaboration. We always went at high speed, almost never under fifty kilometres per hour. I'm very happy. I want to dedicate this victory to Salvatore, my dad, who was instrumental in helping me to find the condition in this difficult period. I spent a week in Sicily to train and find peace after the Vuelta and the results are evident.

"It is clear that I was a little tired at the beginning of the race after yesterday. Lap by lap I was always a bit better and legs opened up. The key was the Piccolo Stelvio climbs and three laps before the finish we spoke with the sporting director about making a nice forcing of the pace. Maybe I did not believe in it myself, but when the race started, I did the action, also helped by a great Paolo Tiralongo. The cards were reshuffled several times.  When I attacked with 500 meters to go I made ​​the difference.

"Yesterday it was much more difficult to predict because the group was making a strong comeback. I had to be careful with Rebellin, wh is always an example of work, and the group was coming so if I had played games, we would have been caught

"I spoke with [natioal coach Davide] Cassani who he told me that I am selected and this gives me pleasure. These days we will make plands because as I have said the route is not very suitable for me. A rider like me, however, can help a national team that was built for a possible sprint.

"It is clear that the national team is something special because in this case when it comes to the national team it is about a group. You have to put your own pride aside for the common cause, try to focus on the common goal that is to bring home a medal . It will not be easy. I just told Cassani to wait for these races and use them to decide whether to select me for the Worlds. It is a difficult Worlds, there are sprinters but a rider like me can be of great help in various ways.

"After the Vuelta I got home, then I had a few days in Lugano where I still trained and found the company of Ivan Santaromita. I did a few days of training with him. Then I went down to Sicily for a long time, I called my father and he told me to come down to him."