The world of professional cycling is cruel. Sonny Colbrelli has been so close to his first professional win all year but he still hasn't broken the ice. Today he again got close when he finished 5th in the GP Cerami.

If one rider deserves a prize for consistency in the 2014 season, it has to be Sonny Colbrelli from Bardini. In his third full season with the Italian team, the 23-year-old has managed to finish in the top 6 no less than 13 times.

However, the elusive first professional win has always escaped the fast Italian and today he again came close to breaking the ice. In the Grand Prix Cerami he found an uphill sprint that suited him well and he set off with the intention of finally opening his account.

Things went according to plan in the first part of the race as his Bardiani teammate Angelo Pagani was part of the early two-rider break and when a dangerous 12-rider group went clear in the finale, the team had both Marco Canola and Enrico Barbin in the move. When things came back together, Colbrelli was ready to sprint but a bad position forced him to launch his effort too early and so he had to settle for fifht.

Nonetheless, the result left Colbrelli with more confidence ahead of one of his big targets, Wednesday's Brabantse Pijl, that is the perfect warm-up for his participation in the Amstel Gold Race in a week's time.

”I was not in the first positions in the last km so Canola helped me to get back," he said. "At that point the only way to win was by anticipating. I did it but I wasn’t fast enough to finish on the podium. However, this is a good result and now we look ahead to the next races that are better for my skills."

”As a team we did a great race," sports director Roberto Reverberi said. "Early on with Pagani in the breakaway for more than 100km, then it was time for Barbin and Canola to be part of the action and at the end we played the card of Colbrelli. Maybe the podium was possible but you know that a sprint is always uncertain and chaotic. Anyway, the guys raced well and I’m satisfied with their performance."