The National Championship in Friuli Venezia Giulia begins today for professionals with time trials along the Tagliamento river. The route starts from Morsano and reaches San Vito al Tagliamento after 28 km, on a completely flat course that passes through the towns of Cordovado, Bando, Carbona, San Paolo, and Braida Bottari just before the finish.

This is a route that, despite some sharp turns, absolutely favors the great specialists, as is right in a time trial that awards the national title. Elite Men, Elite Women, and U23 Men will all test themselves on the full course, unlike yesterday's juniors and cadets who rode on a 13.5 km course for the first group and 17.5 km for the second.

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Among the men, the great favorite is naturally Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), who will start last at 12:04 and will hunt for his sixth title before presenting himself at the Tour de France time trials with the tricolor jersey. European champion Edoardo Affini will not be present, as he is finalizing his preparation for the Grand Tour. The most accredited rivals for the Verbania locomotive will be Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep), already three-time time trial medalist, Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), the only one who has managed to interrupt Ganna's dominance since 2019 (in 2021), and Filippo Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), last year's bronze medalist and fresh off winning the Tour of Belgium.

Also not to be underestimated are Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana) and Mirco Maestri (Polti VisitMalta), as well as Marco Frigo (Israel-PremierTech) and Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar). It will be interesting to see how Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), the most surprising among the registered riders, will perform, as he wants to gain more and more confidence in the discipline. The first to start will be Riccardo Lucca (Team Kargac) at 11:30.

Among the U23, there will be 29 athletes racing: the first to start will be Jacopo Cucchi (Borga Cycles Team Energyup) at 14:30, the last Bryan Olivo (Bahrain Victorious Development), winner in 2023, at 14:58, with the extra motivation of racing just a few steps from home.

ELITE MEN STARTING ORDER

[Starting order list remains the same as in the original text]

U23 STARTING ORDER

[Starting order list remains the same as in the original text]