3rd February 2013 06:23
Andrea Lalli gained revenge for his narrow defeat 12 months ago by taking victory in the 10k, but ultimately it was not about who finished first.
Bikila and Lalli's club Fiamme Gialle both ended on 27 points and the result was decided on the best finish of their fourth scoring member.
So Spain can then turn to Guerra Javier as their hero for crossing the line in 10th position, just in front of Gabrielle De Nard who was 11th. Both men had the same time of 29:39.
His position was key.
Delight then for the home crowd at the Spaniards' victory but for Lalli, what a time in his career this has become.
In this 10k event, he cemented his position as the continent's leading male runner this winter with a fine performance having finished second here 12 months ago.
Lalli, who won gold at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in December, lost this race in the final strides in 2012 to Spain's Ayad Lamdassem, both men being given the same time of 28:36.
This time he won in 29:02 from Lamdassem in 29:05 with Portugal's Manuel Damiao third in 29:08.
But this day is not about individuals and Lamdassem found himself at the top of the podium where Javier and him were joined by Jesus Nunez, who was sixth in 29:21, with Ivan Fernandez ninth in 29:35.
Lalli's spearheaded the Fiamme club where Ahmed El Mazoury was seventh and Patrick Nasti eight, both in 29:31, with De Nard 11th as Marathon Clube de Portugal finished third overall with 59 points.
Türkiye's Istanbul œsküdar Belediyesi Spor Kulübü were chasing victory in the women's event for the fourth time in a row and though they won the 6km race as Ethiopian Hiwot Ayalew triumphed in 18:56, it was Russia's day.
Sport Club won with 28 points from Spain's Atletismo Santutxu with 46 and œsküdar Belediyesi third with 51.
Olga Golovkina, 26, the European 5000m champion, did her best to stay with Ayalew. And though she finished 11 seconds behind in 19:07, she celebrated team glory as fellow Russian Liudmila Lebedeva was third in 19:21, Natalia Gorchalova was eighth in 19:41 and Alina Prokopyeva was 15th in 20:03.
As the points totals showed, it meant a clear win for the Russian team as the last scoring runner for Istanbul was Bahar Dogan in 26th in 20:32.
In the junior men, there was team victory for Portugal's Sport Lisboa e Benfica, even though they did not have a runner in the first three.
In the race itself, Markos Gkorlias, of GAS Ilissos Athletic Club in Greece, triumphed in a really close event in 18:29, from Erkan Celik, of Istanbul Fenerbahce Sport Kulub in the same time with Arhus 1900's Jakob Dybdal Abrahamsen third in 18:39.
But Luis Miguel Borges, of the Benfica club, was next in 18:32, followed by his teammates of Bruno Varela, fifth in 18:36, Helder Costa, seventh in 18:42, and Ruben Pessoas, 11th in 18:49.
It meant 27 points for victory from Istanbul Fenerbahce with 40 and the hosts, Playas de Castellon, third with 86.
And Russia's women could celebrate victory also in the junior event as Sport Club won with 30 points from Bursa Buyuksehir Belediyesi Spor with 38 and Uniao Desportiva da Varzea with 49.
Dias Silvana, of Uniao, won the 4km race in 13:34 from Sarah Lahti, of Hasselby SK, in 13:42 with Aleksandra Gulieva in 13:47 being Sport Club's first runner home in third in 13:47.
The team won overall as Alina Sergeeva was fifth in 13:59, Anna Tangova 10th in 14:17 and Tamara Chalkova 12th in 14:23.