The Italian finished third last year behind Slovakia’s Peter Sagan and Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet, but bettered the effort on today’s 205.7 kilometres race.

World champion Sagan was among the favourites, fresh from his victory at the first of the two Canadian one-day WorldTour races in Quebec.

The Slovakian turn of pace at 30km to the finish brought an end to the early breakaway of Canadian pair Matteo Dal-Cin and Benjamin Perry.

Sagan was prevented from moving clear himself by the peloton, but they allowed a move containing Ulissi, France’s Tony Gallopin, Spain’s Jesus Herrada, Belgium’s Jan Bakelants and Dutch duo Bauke Mollema and Tom-Jelte Slagter to go clear.

They would hold a narrow advantage over a chasing pack, which contained Sagan and Van Avermaet, heading into the closing kilometres.

The move proved decisive, though, with Ulissi sprinting to victory in a time of 5 hours 22min 29sec.

He was followed across the line by Herrada, Slagter and Bakelants, with Mollema and Gallopin finishing six and 11 seconds down respectively.

Van Avermaet, Sagan and Australia’s Michael Matthews were among a group to come in 16 seconds behind the winner, but the trio will hope the race helps hone their preparations for the World Championships in Bergen later this month.

Belgium’s Jolien D'hoore raised suggestions she could be a contender for the women’s world title, as she triumphed at the one-day Madrid Challenge.

The UCI Women’s WorldTour event, held alongside the Vuelta a España, saw the WiggleHigh5 rider triumph for the second straight year.

D’Hoore crossed the line in a time of 2:02:31.

The United States’ Coryn Rivera and France’s Roxane Fournier finished on the same time as the winner in second and third place respectively.