Victory returned a year later. The last time for Elia Viviani had been the same CRO Race, on the finish line in Zagreb in 2022. In between, a season of 55 days of racing (plus the track), which painted a portrait of the Veronese rider in light and shadow, halfway between his ambition, which remains high, and the need to fit into a program that has not always taken the form he desired.
On February 7, there were 34 candles on the cake and for the first time Viviani celebrated his birthday as a married man. Everything in his history as a man and an athlete suggests a stable dimension, with the next Olympic goal at the centre of a career that already has two Olympic medals, alongside 88 road victories. Yet the feeling is that in his eyes there is still the restlessness of those who have something else to prove.
Let's start from yesterday: what does it feel like to win after a year of fasting?
When you win in September, you're a little afraid of going through the year without winning. I knew it was a good time, because looking back after a few years I was competitive again in Hamburg and Plouay. In short, they were signs that I was in good shape and competitive with the others. This was already a good point for me, with the end-of-season program that could allow me to improve the budgetNow there is Croatia and they added me the Green-Tour of Guanxi, in China, because evidently the team sees opportunities for me.
You didn't race a major Giro this year either: did this have any impact on your performance and results?
I haven't done any for two years, so that does count. At the Giro, Cavendish he proved that he was able to win a stage and the one in Rome at thatSkipping a major stage race makes you miss something on a physical level, but it also takes away some good opportunities from you, which riders with a few years of running experience can grasp. There are two possibilities. There can be a dominator and then he wins them all. Or there is the moment in which the sprints are no longer so chaotic and the corridors that make them are those 4-5 who have reached the end and those become opportunities to achieve prestigious victories.
At the World Championships, you said you wanted to do more track races. Does this mean road racing will be secondary in 2024?
The point of what I said at the World Cup it concerned the tactical fact. I realized that I make a lot of mistakes in group testsIt's true that with your legs you can straighten out a good omnium in the final points race. But it's also true that if you leave too many points on the road, you can fight for a medal by coming from behind. Or, like what happened to me this year, you might not get it. So It's not a question of preparation, because we now have a good system to be ready for the racesInstead, I have to run to better read the movements, the attacks, these aspects here.
Will the Six Days go well?
No, actually. The Six Days are a real challenge, but they're different tests. I have to run some omniums, so we are looking at some Class 1 races, like the one in Grenchen in December. And then probably in the Olympic year, for me It will be better to do all the World Cups and the high-level races to arrive well in ParisThe goal is to be ready for the road and track seasons, between March and April.
Are you in for a very intense winter?
Finishing late and expecting an early start, winter passes quickly. I return from China on October 18th. I will probably reduce the gap, because I have seen that over the years the four weeks are starting to be too much to reconstruct.So I'll do two of them without doing anything, but I'll pick up something in the third one. So it's going to be a short winter, let's put it that way..
Looking through your photo album, lately there are more of you in the blue jersey than in the Ineos jersey: why is that?
The truth is that even at the European Championships, there was a group that performed well. Between the national track and road teams I always manage to give something more, to find myselfSome people even say that going to the European Championships allowed me to win right away here in Croatia. Maybe that's true. Wearing the blue jersey is special, and when you don't get results, even if you raced well like on Sunday, we feel bad too. The blue shirt has always been something special for me, a second teamWhen I need to run, as happened at Matteotti, I know I can call and they're ready. This is a certainty for me.
Along with Villa, you were the architect of the track's revival; you went to the European Championships to support Ganna. Do you feel a bit like the... father of the Italian team?
A little bit, yes. I saw guys I didn't have much contact with during the season, like Mozzato and Sobrero, who appreciated me being there. We talked a lot: about the season, about some races, about different aspects. Not just Goofy, who is like a brother, but also the others. I was happy to see that they were happy, that in those three days of retreat they tried to take something from meIt's nice to be a point of reference, to make people understand what it means to wear the blue jersey and be all for one. Because in any case to be called up you have to get results, so It's normal for us all to have personal ambition.. Yet on those days, everyone has to be there for one or two. Obviously, it's not easy, so it's something that makes me proud.
Do young people listen?
Those who do it are not that rare, but they are not that many either. Some come and they are the ones to explain to you how things are goingThey don't get much, maybe they don't care. However, there are exceptions, and I'm happy to see them in the team. Tarling, for example, is one of those curious ones, he wants to learn, he's a big kid. Others don't care.
You mentioned your ambitions. After your golden years at Quick Step, things didn't work out at Cofidis, and it seems like you've put them away somewhere. Wouldn't you like Morkov to lead your sprints anymore?
I tried to take Morkov until a few days agoThe ambition is definitely there. The problem is that it's all a chain. Winning gives me back my confidence, but it also makes the team and the riders who are with me understand that I am still worth helping.Winning means I still know what I'm doing, and that leads to higher goals. If next year I start in Australia, at Cadel Evans' race, which has always been a great race for me, I could already have a red circle at the start of the season. And from there, it's a whole chain that leads you to aim higher. Like Hamburg…
Didn't that surprise you?
It was a surprise for many, but not for me. For me Hamburg was a goal, as well as Plouay, which I've always liked. Plouay was a bit challenging with 4.000 meters of elevation gain, yet I finished in the top ten. It was a sign. So the ambitions are there and they are high.I need to make sure I have a good plan. I would absolutely like to be at the Giro d'Italia, for me it is also important for ParisBefore the Olympics I always did the Giro and I know it's something extra on a physical level. But I wouldn't do it just for Paris, but also because I miss running a three-week stage race, both physically and in terms of ambitionWinning the Giro would be something even more special.
Perhaps in this new Ineos, which is unclear what market it's targeting, some space could also open up for the sprinter at the Giro, no?
Definitely the Ineos Grenadiers it is in a time of construction and the work is focused on finding the man who wins the TourThe goal remains the same as it was a few years ago: to go to the Tour with the best and try to win. Achieving this is quite a complicated matter., so if you decide to go to France with all the strongest, At the Giro, more than at the Vuelta, there will be space for the sprinter. In Spain we're going with a full complement of climbers to take action. Yes, I'm convinced, The Giro would be the best opportunity for me.
