Young Italian Bardiani climber Edoardo Zardini and Francesco Manuel Bongiorno were targeting a top 10 in the final GC in today's queen stage of the Giro del Trentino but the pair struggled on the long, hard Monte Bondone climb. In the end, they could only manage 14th and 20th in the overall standings and wrote the disappointing performance down to the strains of their hard work at an altitude training camp.

When Edoardo Zardini won the first mountain stage of the Giro del Trentino and moved into second overall, all was looking bright for the Bardiani team. One day later he slipped slightly back but instead his teammate Francesco Manuel Bongiorno rode a great stage and moved into the top 10 on GC.

Today the duo of Bardiani climbers set out on the queen stage with the mission of securing two spots in the top 10 on GC but the brutal climb of the Monte Bondone ended up being too much for the youngsters. Zardini was the first the get dropped by the favourites and in the hectic finale, Bongiorno also had to surrender. While the stage 2 winner crossed the line in 27th, his teammate was only slightly better in 18th.

The result saw them drop down to 20th and 14th on GC respectively but the team remained upbeat for the Giro d'Italia, writing the disappointment down to fatigue from their recent training camp at altitude.

”I’m disappointed because this morning the goals were different," Bongiorno said. "But on the Monte Bondone when we were about ten riders in front, it became hard for me to follow the attacks from the top riders. So I got dropped and finished the stage at my own pace.

"I think this happened because I need more days to recover from all the training I did on the Etna, where I stayed until last week. Now I’ll go back home and I’ll get ready for my big season goal, the Giro d’Italia."

”Unfortunately our young climbers lost their spots in the top 10 of the general classification," sports director Roberto Reverberi said. "Both Zardini and Bongiorno had difficulties following the several changes of pace made by the best riders.

"This happened because they’re still fatigued from the hard work they did the last few weeks on the Etna. Anyway, we can be really satisfied with this Giro del Trentino, we got a great stage win and I saw good improvements from some riders that will now go to the Giro d’Italia."