Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani) continued his great consistency when he finished in the top 5 in today's GP Camaiore, winning the sprint of the group that arrived three seconds behind the winning quartet. The result was his 9th top 5 finish of the season but the win has until now eluded the fast Italian.

If anyone deserves the titile of Mr Consistency in 2014, it is certainly young, talented Sonny Colbrelli. Right from the beginning of the season, the Italian has been on fire, excelling in sprinting, hard one-day races, and even time trials.

His strong form has been rewarded with several good results. In the Etoile de Besseges, he finished in the top 5 in three stages and only missed out on the overall podium due to a mechanical on the second stage. He went on to take another three top 5 places on stages in the Tour de Mediteraneen before focusing on the hard one-day races.

In the Trofeo Laigueglia, he was 4th when he finished 2nd in the group that arrived behind the race-winning duo and in the GP Lugano he was narrowly beaten into 2nd by Mauro Finetto when a small group arrived at the finish. Today he took his 3rd straight top 5 finish when he won the sprint for 5th in the GP Camaiore.

Despite the many excellent results, Colbrelli can be forgiven for starting to get a bit frustrated.

”We tried until the end to catch Ulissi and the other riders ahead and we got really close," he said. "Their attack on the Monte Pitoro was really strong and they gained important seconds. After the descent, my teammates set a really fast pace trying to close the gap and I want to thank them for the effort. I did a long sprint to take 5th place but honestly today I came here to win, not for another place of honour."

Sports director Roberto Reverberi praised his team for their dominant showing in the finale.

"There’s always regret when you win the sprint of a chasing group, arriving really close to success," he said. "However, today the guys did a positive race but from the top of Monte Pitoro, with 6km to go, it wasn’t easy to manage the chasing with the next technical descent.

"We tried to do that on the flat road before the finish but it wasn’t enough to bridge the gap. Colbrelli did his job, winning the group sprint and confirming that he’s in great condition. We have to continue this way, the first victory will arrive soon."

Colbrelli will get his next chance in Sunday's Roma Maxima which is another race tailor-made to his characteristics.