Having recently won the queen stage of the Tour of Britain and earned selection for the Italian Worlds squad, Edoardo Zardini was again a protagonist when he finished 14th in today's Milan-Turin. The Italian used the race to prepare for Sunday's Il Lombardia.

Young climber Edoardo Zardini has had a fantastic autumn season. After winning the queen stage and finishing fourth in the Tour of Britain, the Italian travelled to Ponferrada where he was a reserve for the Italian squad for the World Championships.

Today Zardini was back in action in Milan-Turin whose tough finale suited him well. This time, however, he was unable to follow the best and had to settle for 14th.

"I had good sensations today but not enough to achieve a better result," he said. "Maybe I should haved followed Caruso and Nocentini but I waited too long. In the end I stayed in Contador group. I tried two times but they didn’t give me more than a few meters. Anyway I had to make this kind of effort on the way to be more competitive for Il Lombardia."

”As usual the race was decided in the last km of the climb," sports director Roberto Reverberi said. "This morning I told the guys be attentive to early attacks during the finale passage of Colle Superga because it was the only way to achieve a great result, avoiding a hard head-to-head with Contador, Aru and Rodriguez. Two riders made the right move but we missed it and lost a good chance.

"About Edoardo’s performance, I think we can be satisfied especially if we look ahead to Il Lombardia. He lost some training days due to the World Championships and he needed to make these types of efforts to unlock. Now I’m sure he’s ready for Sunday."