One day after their clean sweep of the podium in the Memorial Marco Pantani, Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff-Saxo) continued the domination of the Italian national team in the one-day races in their home country by winning the GP di Prato. Having made it into a five-rider group with his in-form teammate Vincenzo Nibali, the veteran beat Marco Marcato (Wanty), Davide Rebellin (CCC), Luca Wackermann (Southeast) and Nibali in the sprint.

Italy is among the perennial favourites for the World Championships and they traditionally have a series of one-day races in the week prior to the battle for the rainbow jersey, allowing their selected riders to test their condition. This has often allowed them to gain some confidence but rarely have they dominated the races like they have done this year.

Still riding for his Astana team, Vincenzo Nibali was the star in the Coppa Agostoni and Coppa Bernocchi where he took second and first respectively. Yesterday he rode for his national team and was part of the clean sweep of the podium as he joined forces with eventual winner Diego Ulissi and Giovanni Visconti to time trial their way to the finish of the Memorial Marco Pantani.

Today Nibali again played a key role for his team as he was part of a five-rider move that managed to hold off the fast-approaching peloton in the GP di Prato. With his fast teammate Daniele Bennati in the group, he sacrificed himself and the veteran paid back the favour by taking what is nowadays a rare win.

"I wanted to raise my arms again," he told Spaziociclismo. "I did not know if it was the last lap or not. However, I did the sprint and then it took me a while to raise my arms. It was nice to win with the national team. I also had my family with my son who urged me on. That gave me an incredible morale. I also had a friend like Nibali to give me extra strength . I believe there is reason to congratulate him and to admire what he is doing. In his condition he could very well go home and think about 2016. Instead he strongly wants to ride with this national team.

"It 'was a beautiful victory with the national team, in front of my fans and my family. I have missed to win in this way for some time. It went very well.

"We are really healthy and I leave for RIchmond with the knowledge that I have a great condition. This will serve me for what I have to do."