Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani) continued his great consistency when he finished ion the podium in today's GP Camaiore, finishing second in the sprint of the group that arrived one second behind the Alejandro Valverde. The result was his 10th top 5 finish of the season but the win has until now eluded the fast Italian.

If anyone deserves the titile of Mr Consistency in 2014, it is certainly young, talented Sonny Colbrelli. Right from the beginning of the season, the Italian has been on fire, excelling in sprinting, hard one-day races, and even time trials.

His strong form has been rewarded with several good results. In the Etoile de Besseges, he finished in the top 5 in three stages and only missed out on the overall podium due to a mechanical on the second stage. He went on to take another three top 5 places on stages in the Tour de Mediteraneen before focusing on the hard one-day races.

In the Trofeo Laigueglia, he was 4th when he finished 2nd in the group that arrived behind the race-winning duo and in the GP Lugano he was narrowly beaten into 2nd by Mauro Finetto when a small group arrived at the finish. On Thursday he took his 3rd straight top 5 finish when he won the sprint for 5th in the GP Camaiore and today he was again on the podium when he sprinted to third in the Roma Maxima

Despite the many excellent results, Colbrelli can be forgiven for starting to get a bit frustrated.

"It leaves a bitter taste in mouth," he told Spaziociclismo. "I was a bit naive as I waited to take off. Anyway, this third place gives me hope for Tirreno-Adriatico and especially for Milan-Sanremo."

Colbrelli was part of the chasing group that caught Domenico Pozzovivo but gailed to catch the final part of the leading pair, race winner Alejandro Valverde. He regrets not having asked his teammates to chase a little earlier.

"I honestly did not know who was ahead of us because I only saw one rider from YellowFluo (Matteo Rabottini, ed.)," he said.

"When I get to the finish, I cannot stay calm in those moments, I am afraid of making mistakes. I have never won as a professional and I hope the first win will soon come.

”First of all I want to thank my teammates that have been great today," he said. "We had a strategy and we did it all together until the end. Unfortunately, the Movistar team made an incredible attack on Rocca di Papa. In the final km, we came back really fast but not enough to catch Valverde. I think is an important podium in a unique scenario."

Earlier in the race, the team had shown great commitment when they had whittled down the peloton on the penultimate climb. Later on, the team's climber Francesco Manuel Bongiorno had tried to respond to the attack from Valverde and Pozzovivo and was the final one who had to admit defeat to the strong duo.

”I’m happy for Colbrelli’s podium that is the result of all the teamwork made today," Bongiorno said. "Regarding myself, I followed Valverde in his several attacks but when Pozzovivo attacked, I struggled. I missed just a few meters to keep their wheels. Then in the first chasing group I didn’t work to bridge the gap because I was waiting for Colbrelli to get back."

”Our guys did another positive race and I’m proud of them," sports director Roberto Reverberi said. "We were able to make our strategy and got really close to the win. Racing near the headquarters of our sponsor Acqua & Terme di Fiuggi has been an additional motivation to take a great result."