Ben Swift brought his two-year drought when he won today's opening half-stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali. The foundations for the victory were laid by impressive Sky teamwork that out the pure sprinters in difficulty on the day's main climbs.

Ben Swift got the Settimana Coppi e Bartali off to the perfect stage by taking victory on stage one.

The Team Sky rider sprinted to success on a short, 99.5-kilometre route starting and ending in Gatteo and will now carry the overall lead into Thursday afternoon’s stage 1b team time trial.

It is Swift’s first victory since the Tour of Poland in July 2012 and comes four days after his impressive third place at the Milan-San Remo one-day Classic.

Team Sky gave the Yorkshireman its full backing and rode hard to shut down the day's breakaway, with pressure over an undulating finale causing a split in the peloton.

Italian duo Manuele Mori (Lampre-Merida) and Damiano Caruso (Cannondale) rounded out the podium on the day with the general classification still tight heading into the afternoon.

Swift was one of two Team Sky riders in the top 10, with team-mate Pete Kennaugh finishing eighth.

Dan Frost was happy to see the team work together so effectively to seal what was also his first victory as Sports Director since joining the team.

“It was really impressive to see what the team did today and then the way Swifty was able to finish it off at the end," he confirmed.

“The team backed him up really well. On the two climbs we went to the front to make it hard. The race began to split up and we were down to 50 riders in the lead group coming into the final. Behind Cannondale were pushing as they didn’t have (Elia) Viviani in the first group.

“Our guys were able to hold off the group and still have something left to set up Ben in the sprint. Now we’re looking forward to the team time trial this afternoon but it’s nice to already have a win in the bag. It’s my first victory with the team and it’s really cool to be a part of!”