Mirko Puglioli of the Linda McCartney Pro Cycling Team was the squad's best performer in their weekend Italian double.

At Saturday's Giro dell'Emilia around Bologna, he finished in the lead group after what turned out to be one of this season's hardest circuits.

"There was a climb up to the basilica just outside the city that they had to go up 4 times," explained team manager Sean Yates. "Craig was up all night putting the lowest possible gears on - it was that steep." More work for the mechanic then, but all the better for the spectators who lined the beautiful wide wall that leads up from the city and into the heart of the basilica for the finish. The forbidding slopes proved the perfect springboard for mountain man Gilberto Simoni to take a great win, coming hard on the heels of his fabulous win on the infamous gradient of Angliru in the Tour of Spain.

Another hard day in the saddle awaited Saturday's combatants when they made their way west for Milano - Vignola the following day. Another highly ranked race, this time a 1.1 on the UCI's scale, saw a small group form to contest the finish, and yet again Mirko Puglioli was in there. In the absence of some of his more illustrious teammates, particularly his leader Max Sciandri, Mirko has picked up the role of Linda McCartney standard bearer. This time he couldn't stop a small group of big players like Andrei Tchmil, Andrea Tafi, Roman Vainsteins and Marco Serpellini sneaking away in the last few kms. These men are all missing the Olympics in order to target the World Championships in Brittany, so they are all running into superb form.

Serpellini was the quickest of all at the line, making the weekend a handsome double celebration for the Lampre team. He hopes that the win will see him cemented in the Italian selection for the Worlds, never an easy grade to make.

Mirko was a fine 18th, his group sprinting for 13th place.