It was an 18th place for Bardiani climber Manuel Bongiorno in a demanding Italian Championships Road Race.

Bongiorno was able to follow the strongest during the first passage of the Superga climb but he struggled and was dropped at the bottom of the last and decisive passage, crossing the finish line in 18th and more than one minute behind winner Vincenzo Nibali.

His teammate Luca Sterbini was in the early breakaway of 5 riders. Unfortunately, youngster Andrea Manfredi crashed and was forced him to abandon the race with 40km to go. The young rider only suffered some bruises and had no fractures.

”It was a really hard race, also due to the heat," Bongiorno said. "We did the first climb of Superga really fast. I was in the leading group but when we arrived at the top I lost some meters due to Nibali’s attack. I chased alone on the descent and came back to the group behind Nibali only before the final climb. Due to this big effort, I struggled and I lost the chance to get a spot in the top 10.

"Now I’ll spend a week of rest and then I will start to train for the second part of the season, where I expect to be back in action at the Tour of Utah in early August”.