Salvatore Puccio showed his promise when he sprinted to 8th behind the race-winning quartet in today's GP Camaiore. With Sky making the first of several appearances in his native Italy, the Italian was given a free card to test himself in the hilly race.

Salvatore Puccio picked up his first top 10 of the 2014 season by finishing in eighth place at the one-day GP Camaiore in Italy.
 

Four men broke clear on the final climb of the race and managed to stay away until the finish, with Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) sprinting to victory ahead of Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale) in second and Julian Arredondo (Trek Factory Racing) in third.

Puccio had formed part of a three-man group that set off in pursuit of the leaders on the descent to the line, and although that trio was swallowed back up by what was left of the peloton, the Italian still had the legs to cross the line fourth in the resulting bunch sprint, three seconds behind Ulissi.

The 186km race, which started and finished in the Tuscan coastal town of Camaiore, kicked off a spree of Italian races for Team Sky in the next two weeks.

"It was a good performance from Salvatore," sports director Dario Cioni told TeamSky.com. "He enjoyed racing on these roads as an under-23 in Italy, so we said in the meeting before the race that if a group went on the last climb, he should try to be with them.

"Unluckily, the front four were just a little bit too strong, but he joined a group of three behind and kept himself in contention.

"What was left of the peloton came back to Salvatore's group, but he still had the legs to finish strongly.

"Unfortunately, Ben Swift couldn't make it over the last climb in the front group and couldn't get back to contest the finish, but it was still a good day for the team overall."