Diego Rosa finished as fifth in Strade Bianche, a hilly race on a mix of asphalt and gravel roads in the Tuscany region of Italy.

"I wasn't brilliant today, but after I found my own rhythm and began to recuperate I could see the result if I continued to work for it," he said.

Rosa and nearly all of his teammates were at the front of the peloton with 50km to the finish when a breakaway of nine riders formed and began to pull away from the group.

With Lars Boom, Dmitriy Gruzdev, Andrei Grivko and Vincenzo Nibali all safely behind, Rosa was free to race for a result as further attacks eliminated the leaders one by one.

Rosa finished less than one minute behind winner Zdenek Stybar of the Czech Republic.

"I wanted to do well," he told Spaziociclismo. "We tried to attack as a team and then seeing that I was in front, I just had to keep trying."

 
The climber also revealed that he "was a little 'surprised to be with the best in the finale", although he knew that he was able to "ride easily and do well" on the gravel roads and eventually finished with a " good result" in his first race with Astana.

Rosa will now start the 2015 Vuelta a Catalunya in late March where he will "primarily work" for his teammates although the condition shown in today's race allows him not to exclude the possibility of doing well.

After the Spanish race Rosa  will go to Mount Teide with some teammates for "two weeks of training" ahead of the Giro where he will support Fabio Aru.