Diego Ulissi underlined his status as the king of the Italian one-day races when he won today's GP Camaiore in a 4-rider sprint. Having used his strong team to split things on the final climb of Monte Pitoro, he launched his own powerful attack at the top and now feels that he is ready for next week's Tirreno-Adriatico.

In the second half of the 2013 season, Diego Ulissi completely dominated the Italian one-day racing scene when he won Milan-Turin, Coppa Sabatini, and Giro dell'Emilia in a fantastic run of success. Having come close to his first home win on a number of occasions in 2014, he continued his reign as the Italian one-day king when he won today's GP Camaiore.

Ulissi showed his strength when he split the race the final time up the race's key climb, Monte Pitoro. When the dust settled at the top, only Matteo Montaguti and Julian Arredondo had been able to match his speed and the trio took off at a rapid pace as they tried to hold off the select group of favourites that was chasing behind.

At the top, they had been 6 seconds ahead but as they were joined by Simon Clarke on the descent, they opened a 20-second gap with 3km to go that allowed them to contest the win in a sprint finish. As he has done so many times in the past, Ulissi proved that he is a very fast finisher when he beat his rivals in the final dash to the line.

Lampre-Merida had been the team to make things difficult from the bottom of the final climb of Monte Pitoro and Ulissi was full of praise for his teammates who had laid the foundations for the win that has set himself up for his first big target of the season: Tirreno-Adriatico.

"We played a waiting game and only worked on the front of the peloton as much as it was necessary," he said. "This allowed us to stay protected in the peloton and to have fresch legs in the finale wehere we tried to make things difficult on the final lap.

"I asked my teammates to set a very hard pace on the final climb of Monte Pitoro and Mori and Cunego did a perfect job. Their pace paved the way for my attack that was followed by three riders who had good legs and cooperative spirit. We got to the finish together as everyone wanted to lay their cards in a sprint finish. I managed to use my speed to take a victory that means that I can now start Tirreno-Adriatico with great morale."

Sports director Bruno Vicino was full of praise for his team.

"I congratulate all my riders," he said. "The followed the plan that we had discussed at the meeting in the morning, to perfection. The break of four riders who led for most of the day, didn't bother us too much. We have contribuyed to the pursuit with a couple of riders when two laps remained.

"Then we took the situation in hand on the final lap when Durasek, Anacona, Mori, and Polanc led the peloton until Cunego forced the pace on the Monte Pitoro. Ulissi then finished off the great teamwork with great authotiry and a very good rhythm on the climb."

Ulissi will next line up in Saturday's Strade Bianche where he will again be one of the major favourites.