Nicole won the event for the third time, also taking success in this race during her first 'Pro' season 2002 and 2005.

The 102 km race over the Italian coastal hills was run off in atrocious winter weather. Nicole was involved in an initial break of 8 at the halfway stage, and had to work had to haul back two riders who then escaped from this small group.

In the closing kilometres she countered several attacks by Nicole Brändli and another from Susanne Lungskog, but as they regrouped 1500m from the line Nicole launched her move, and rode away to finish clear by 7". A third time victor, no other rider has one this race more than once.

"This is a spot of Italy that holds good memories for me, but with the weather today I'd have to say at one point I thought just finishing the race in one peice would be a success!"

"Having team-mates protecting me prior to the first selection at 68km was great. They worked really well and in those circumstances I'm just really pleased that I was able to reward their efforts with the win."