Bronzini leads Italian Olympic cycling team

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Giorgia Bronzini has been named in the Italian womens road race team for the Olympics.

The two-time world road race champion will get support from Noemi Cantele, Tatiana Guderzo and Monia Baccaile on July 29. Like most teams the Italians are banking on a sprint finish on the Mall, perfect for Bronzini.

When the Italian team arrived in Surrey in May to recce the Olympic route they weren't allowed up Box Hill due to resurfacing works going on there.

The women's peloton didn't get a test event over the route last year, so several rode the route ahead of the men's last August, while others have been to Surrey since then. The majority of the contenders for the men's event have been to look at the route this spring.

The week before the Tour de France started, Mark Cavendish did several laps of the Box Hill loop with Sky team mate Ben Swift.

The women's race follows the same route as the men's, but only does two laps of the 15km Box Hill circuit, and is therefore unlikely to be hard enough to split the bunch up. The British team is built around Lizzie Armitstead, also with a sprint finish in mind.