Simone Ponzi proved that he is back to his best after recovering from a recent injury when he won yesterday's Dwars door Drenthe. The win was an important confidence boost for the Italian ahead of his first big objective: Milan-Sanremo.

Prior to the season, Simone Ponzi joined YellowFluo after several years at Astana. The Italian was the next rider on the long list of riders that team manager Luca Scinto has been able to put back on track after their progress had stalled.

It seemed that Scinto had done it again when Ponzi won the very first race of his season, GP Costa degli Etruschi, but afterwards his season came to a sudden halt when he was set back by an injury.

Ponzi suffered in his first races back but yesterday he proved that he is getting back to full strength when he won the Dwars door Drenthe. On a very windy day in the Netherlands, he made all the key selection before taking a sprint win from the final 10-rider group.

Ponzi and his teammates Andrea Fedi, Francesco Chicchi, and Mauro Finetto all made it into the first 60-rider group that formed in the windy conditions and when it was whittled down to 25, Ponzi and Fedi were still there. The pair again made the selection when the number of riders was reduced to 10 and then Fedi made sure to keep things together for a final sprint for Ponzi.

The win was an important confidence boost ahead of Ponzi's first big goal: Milan-Sanremo.

"I'm really happy," he said. "With this success, I am back at the same level I had in Donoratico [Costa degli Etruschi]. I have to than Andrea Fedi, he was fundamental in the last part of the race, and without him I would not have been able to win. Now I return to Italy and I'll race the GP Nobili to try to win and, I hope, Milan - Sanremo to try to do something special. It's my dream."

"This success is important for us and Simone who has returned to his best level," Scinto said. "Now we can face the coming week with strong determination and quiet stability."

The win also proves that the team cares about the races they do in Northern Europe.

"We care for this calendar of races and this success is a good signal for the following races on our schedule," sports director Serge Parsani said.

The team will next line up in Thursday's GP Nobili before taking on Milan-Sanremo on Sunday.