Top 10 Italian Riders at World Tour

Yesterday, Sonny Colbrelli has won the European Championship in Trento in an incredible fashion. The way how he handled Povo and all the attacks from Belgian wonderkid Remco Evenepoel was spectacular and he made every Italian's Sunday an 'oro' one. This victory although made me think if Sonny is now the #1 Italian cyclist in the world, because... we all know that Italians have an amazing season, but we really have to see who is the one who prevails among them. So I collected the top 10 🇮🇹 cyclist in World Tour. This is a subjective list, so any kind of disagreement is very much possible.

Spoiler alert: This list doesn't include Deceuninck-Quick Step's Italian armada of Andrea Bagioli, Mattia Cattaneo, Davide Ballerini and Fausto Masnada, does not include Vincenzo Nibali and Lorenzo Rota who has been in a stellar form in the past 2 months.

10. Alberto Bettiol

Alberto Bettiol has come through a long way in his career, however, one thing I extremely adore in him is that apart from 1 season at BMC, he has been loyal to EF (former Cannondale-Drapac team), and as his contract runs until 2023, he has some good years ahead of him. The world got to know him as an absolute beast of spring classics, winning Ronde van Vlaanderen in 2019, and becoming 4th in Gent-Wevelgem and Strade Bianche a year later, however, this year, he stepped a new level a became an amazing puncheur, winning in Stradella at Giro was a brilliant accomplishment and it certainly opened new directions to Bettiol. We still don't know if he will be selected to the National Team for Leuven, but if he does start, he will be one of the favourites to take the rainbow jersey.

9. Matteo Trentin

Matteo Trentin hasn't won a race in 2 years (Trofeo Matteotti 2019) but I decided to include him in the list, because after all, he is a very dangerous rider. He is very much able to ride in flat and in hills as well. He is not the fastest sprinter in peloton, but he is ALWAYS there when it is a reduced bunch sprint, and this is a skill which a very few riders have (khm khm.... i am looking at a French sprinter in a French team very suggestively). The thing is, Trentin should have been a World Champion in Yorkshire, that route was perfectly suitable for him, he was the strongest all day, but in the final sprint, he came short. Yet, Trentin is a really symphatetic rider and the moustache he has grown throughout the years is really appealing to me.

8. Gianni Moscon

Gianni Moscon has become a phenomenon in the past years. First, he has become the most hated rider of professional cycling with his scandals, which I would not elaborate in this short section. However, in the past 14 months, he has improved a lot, and I think the covid break in cycling did really good to him. He won two stages at Tour of the Alps, won the Lugano one-day race, and showed promising things not only as a puncheur & sprinter but also as a helper to INEOS as well. He needed time to assimilate to the cycling world, but he has arrived finally and at the age 27, his primetime should come incredibly soon. The only question regarding him is his contract, he still doesn't have a signed deal for 2022 and beyond, but this condition can change at any minute.

7. Giulio Ciccone

Have to say that Giulio Ciccone quickly became a legendary rider for me after his stage win at Team Bardiani in 2016 Giro d'Italia. His improvement, since then has been slow but steady and this year he has inherited captain roles in Giro and he was named captain at La Vuelta, however, he had to abandon both races after crashes and illnesses - until these abandonments, he went pretty well in both races. Ciccone needs to finish races to see his full potential, to see how he would fare in a third week situation where physical and mental strength plays a long part. He is a really good climber, he can win Giro di Lombardia, and I would not rule out now that he can end up in a Grand Tour podium in the future.

6. Diego Ulissi

Diego Ulissi has been one of the most consistent riders in the peloton, he always produces epic victories every year and we can't get bored of it. The 32-year-old rider from Cecina has one dimension, in which he is top 10 in the world - it is climbing to 2,5k 12% hills in a HULK way. I remember his victory at Nova Gorica this season, the way how he has beaten Tadej Pogacar was astonishing. Ulissi has still some good years in front of him, and he can win 2-3 more stages at Giro, he has won 8 in his career, among which the 2014 Montecopiolo stage was the best, sprinting Kiserlovski, Kelderman, PRIME Nairo Quintana is something remarkable even if we see in a retrospective.

5. Elia Viviani

If this list was purely about cycling (track + road), then Viviani would be #1. If I would have made this list 3 years ago on road, he still would be among top 3. His move to Cofidis, however, was slightly unsuccessful. Yes, I understand that winning 1.1 and 2.1 races might give him a lot of confidence and he would be satisfied with his core results. However, the impact of those results are far from perfect. Honestly, I don't doubt his speed, he is fast but he needs a team around him to fulfill his potential. Unless he finds this team, he will be outside of top 3 for me.

4. Giacomo Nizzolo

If I criticized Viviani for his bad choice, I should praise Nizzolo for his successful team change. Since he arrived to Qhubeka, he has undergone to a complete resurrection in terms of form, speed, pace and even tactics. The highlight of his season was clearly the stage victory at Giro d'Italia, which was really due in his career, but I can't even count how many times he has finished in the top 5 in a race, without any kind of world-class sprint train. He is also a rider who could do miracles in sprints with a better train, I am curious if Qhubeka will sign a really great last man to help Nizzolo in the next years.

3. Damiano Caruso

Alto de Velefique, Valle Spluga, 6x top 6 in 2021 Giro d'Italia. Damiano Caruso's 2021 season has been an incredible one and I can't get over it and I will not get over it for a long time. Caruso has been the perfect domestique for a decade now, but he really did shine when he got the captain role. The passion Italian people had for him was an incredible one seeing, I wanted to live it up so badly. The real question is his future, he is 33, and I don't know if we will ever see a whole season from him in this level. If not, let's appreciate this one as a Caruso masterclass.

2. Filippo Ganna

The world champion. The machine. The invincible. Filippo Ganna got this nicknames in the past 18 months, and all of them were pretty rightful. He has won the last 5 ITT-s at Giro, he has won everything he could, even a mountain stage at Giro from the breakaway. The general thought was that he could win stage races AND classics as well in the future. I think the time has come, however, to really consider his future, he has decide if he really wants to be the one-dimensional TT rider with some little extra climbing, or to completely change his focus to the Belgian and French classics. Both of them... only the best could do this. But the Olympics, and the Euro loss from Roglic and Kueng makes me think that this change is inevitable and this invincibility is starting to fade a bit.

1. Sonny Colbrelli

Yes, Sonny is the number 1 for me. This guy here has learned climbing this year and found his real speed. He has brain for this sport which is a great starting point. He is one of the corner stones for Bahrain's incredible season, and his results have been impressive throughout the entire season. I have said earlier that he has the chance for the Euro-Worlds double - and actually, yesterday was the harder route for him. The guy, who ends up third in Tignes, 6th at Kuurne, 4th at Gent-Wevelgem... I think he is a real contender for the worlds. Yes, even with van Aert, van der Poel and Mohoric in the peloton.