Trentin exemplifies Italy's improvements

At the finish of the Richmond World Championships in 2015, Matteo Trentin helped Giacomo Nizzolo to 18th place. For a nation that had won the title four times during the halcyon days of the 2000s, Nizzolo's result sent few shockwaves reverberating through Italian cycling.

Expectations ahead of Richmond had been low, but that result behind Peter Sagan represented a new dawn for the team. Team manager Davide Cassani had been installed a year earlier, but his Richmond squad was a blend of experience and youth, with the former Ariostea and Gewiss rider keen to build for the future. As Trentin stood at the finish, he expressed the need for patience in Italy's line-up, and he argued that time was needed both for him and his teammates.

Almost three years on and Trentin and his teammates are genuine contenders on the world stage. The Mitchelton-Scott rider won Cassani's first major men's title on Sunday at the European Championships, while more wins followed in both the women's road race and the track programme.

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"The generation of the riders has changed and we've evolved," Trentin told Cyclingnews from his home in Monaco after Sunday's triumph.

"In the last three years it's riders more of my age who are in the championships. We're a really good group and we work well as a team. As a national team it's always hard to find a good balance because you only race once or twice a year together, but we showed on Sunday that we can make good races together."

Since Richmond, Italy's men have risen to the challenge. Trentin narrowly missed out on the podium at Worlds last year, while their captain Vincenzo Nibali came close to winning at the Olympics in 2016. Their chances at this year's hilly Worlds in Austria primarily rest on the Bahrain-Merida rider's shoulders, although the rest of the squad will take heart from their ride in Glasgow at the Europeans.

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