Relying on all his past experience and skill against the clock Marco Pinotti claimed his sixth Italian time trial title today to complete a highly successful weekend on Italian soil for his BMC team that secured the road race title on Saturday with Ivan Santaromita.

For Pinotti the win is a huge step towards fighting his way back from a nasty broken collarbone injury. He was recently ignored for a berth in the BMC line-up for the Tour de France but dominated the hilly 39km time trial, beating Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole-Csf Inox) and Adriano Malori Lampre-Merida), 2012 winner Dario Cataldo (Team Sky) was fourth after being stung on the ear by a wasp during his ride.

Pinotti set a time of 49:04, with Pirazzi finishing in 50:15, Malori in 50:32 and Cataldo in a time of 50:47. He was fastest by 40- seconds at the time split and continued to enhance his lead over his rivals all the way to the finish.

"It was a nice course, tough but fast," Pinotti told Gazzetta dello Sport after his victory. "I thought about retiring when I had my accident but after the initial tough moment, I put a circle around the date of June 23 on the calendar. Here I am!"

Last week Pinotti joined the Italian national team for a training camp session and his victory in the tricolore time trial ought to land him a place in the Italian squad for the world road race championships in Florence in September.