He had told us about it Jacopo Guarnieri at the departure from Kielce, il Tour of Poland it is a very popular race among sprintersAmong the many fast men here in Poland there is also Elia Viviani, in his first season in the Ineos Grenadiers, with which he had already raced in the past when it bore the name “Sky”.
When Elia gets off the bus to talk to us, it's a few minutes past twelve. The sun is shining high in the sky and it's starting to get very hot. He says goodbye to us, He asks his mechanics for the latest information to find out if the bike is ready, specifically, it informs you about the tire pressure.
The first answers
Viviani garners great acclaim wherever he goes, and with a track record like his, it's hard to go unnoticed. While we are talking, many people come closer, curious, and take pictures.The Veronese rider returns to racing after a hiatus. There are many questions, and the answers will slowly emerge.
"I'm fine," he tells us, covered by large dark glasses that hide his gaze. "At the first races, after a period at altitude you always have to find out how you feel. So far there have been two sprints, the first one we did for ethan hayter, In the second one I took the lead but I achieved a seventh place which cannot satisfy me.
«But when you get back into the fray it's always like this, here there are many teams equipped to do well. We'll see if there will be one or two more opportunities, surely on the last day with arrival in Krakow we'll try again.».
One of the two opportunities Elijah mentioned has presented itself. todayThe fifth stage of this Tour de Pologne brought with it some difficulties that could have disarmed the sprinters, despite this the group remained compact in the final kilometer. Unfortunately for Viviani, a curve taken at full speed caused a crash 700 metres from the finish and the Veronese rider was trapped in the rear.
Today's sprint was won by Bauhaus over Demare and Arndt The public shows up in large numbers at all the stages of this 79th Tour de Pologne Today's was a hamlet with a lively profile, in the Podkarpackie region
Today's sprint was won by Bauhaus over Demare and Arndt The public shows up in large numbers at all the stages of this 79th Tour de Pologne Today's was a hamlet with a lively profile, in the Podkarpackie region
Altitude and track
In this mid-season period, many riders have been preparing for the second half of the season at high altitude. What has the Venetian sprinter been up to among the mountain peaks?
«I stayed for 15 days and worked on the sprints – Viviani continues – in the end I have to win those and that's where I'll focus. I did 4 days of specific work: two days just sprints and the other two on long climbsFor the rest, I managed the days a bit by working on my general condition. From this point of view, altitude always gives something extra.
«I came down two days before coming here, In that short period I did some track work just to speed up and get here ready».
Exclusion from the Giro
We had left Viviani excluded from the Giro, with its sports director Matteo Tosatto who promised us that Elia would return strong and hungry. The former Olympic champion's professionalism is beyond question.
«Before doing the altitude retreat I ran many second level races (Tour of Hungary, ZML Tour and Route d'Occitanie, ed.). Lots of top five finishes but no wins, so obviously I'm trying hard to win.I found it at the beginning of the season in France at the Tour de la Provence and then I never found it again."
«From now until the end of the season I will be doing a lot of one-day races, Hamburg will be back, which I've won in the last three editions and I'd like to put a red circle on it. Then the Tour of Germany and the Tour of Britain, These are all races that serve to add some number 1s to the statistics».
A season without major laps
This year, Viviani will watch the major stage races from home, something he hasn't done since 2017, his last year at Sky. A choice dictated by the team and its needs, but also from the few victories found, how did Elia make this decision?
«I'm in a team where I knew I'd have little room to compete in the major stage races as a protagonist – explains Viviani – In fact, it would have been difficult even to get into the selection process.
«The team is aiming very hard for the general classification in the stage races and it is clear that they are concentrating their forces in that direction, it's not a problem, you have to deserve the call-up and I didn't win as much as I hoped."
«As for the victories I would say that it is a mix of many factors that keeps me away from the first position, in the end the sprints have flown byWhen you don't win a lot, it means something is missing. Sometimes I was too far behind, other times I wasn't positioned well. We need to regain confidence. It's the classic "one win leads to another" thing..
Young riders people to the rescue
Viviani has had a lot of competition this year with young players, and he's seen their qualities firsthand. For example, he's encountered... Olav Kooij, first at the ZML Tour, won by the young Dutchman, and then here in Poland.
«We certainly had confirmation also at this Tour de Pologne, where the sprinters' group is competitive, the youngsters wonThe first stop is Kooij himself, and the second is Belgian Thijssen. They're coming soon. Probably at an international level. Jacobsen and Kooij are the strongest sprintersPhilipsen immediately followed. This year the youngsters are dominating and it shows: starting with Bennet, Cavendish and Ewan, we're not having a great season."
Today is another missed opportunity for Viviani. Which, as we also told you, has set its sights on the Krakow stage, the last chance to not return home empty-handed.Winning helps you win – he said it himself – but first you have to find the right equation to be the first to cross that damned white line again.
