He was bitterly to rue his error.

The French divisions of Serurier and Dommartin closed in on him, drove him from Mondovi, and away towards Turin.
Bonaparte had now completely succeeded.

Using to the full the advantage of his central position between the widely scattered detachments of his foes, he had struck vigorously at their natural point of junction, Montenotte, and by three subsequent successes--for the evacuation of Ceva can scarcely be called a French victory--had forced them further and further apart until Turin was almost within his power.
It now remained to push these military triumphs to their natural conclusion, and impose terms of peace on the House of Savoy, which was secretly desirous of peace.

The Directors had ordered Bonaparte that he should seek to detach Sardinia from the Austrian alliance by holding out the prospect of a valuable compensation for the loss of Savoy and Nice in the fertile Milanese.[42] The prospect of this rich prize would, the Directors surmised, dissolve the Austro-Sardinian alliance, as soon as the allies had felt the full vigour of the French arms.

Not that Bonaparte himself was to conduct these negotiations.