Luca Paolini won the 91st Coppa Bernocchi in Legnano while last year's winner, Britain's Steve Cummings, finished fourth.

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Home rider Paolini, riding for Acqua & Sapone, won the 199.3 kilometre race which began and ended in the North-West Lombardy town to boost his chances of selection for the Italian World Championships team, announced on September 14.

German Danilo Hondo (PSK Whirlpool) and another Italian, Enrico Gasparotto (Lampre-NGC), finished second and third respectively, while Cummings's Barloworld team-mate and fellow Brit Geraint Thomas was fifth.

The race featured five separate climbs up the Morazzone, and on the penultimate peak the winning escape went free featuring Cummings and Thomas, Gasparotto and Enrico Magazzini (Lampre), Hondo, Paolini, Mauro Finetto (CSF Group-Navigare) and Alessandro Proni (ISD).

"The race was fast and uncontrolled from the start, but we took it in hand," said Paolini. "Thanks to the team, they believed in me to the end. To win near home is nice, where I have lots of friends."