Viviani in Rome, wearing the Olympic jersey and the 2022 one

Let's take stock, shall we? Elijah Viviani, first flag-bearer cyclist at the Olympics, he is in Rome for the presentation of the jersey they will wear in Tokyo the cycling teams, even if the jersey presented yesterday in the Hall of Honour of the CONI is the training one, given that in all specialties you will run with the bodyIn the last few days and already during the Giro there has been talk about the conditions of the Veronese and many voices have added up without him having had his say. So waiting to run to the Adriatica Ionica Race and before entering the decisive phase of preparation for Tokyo, here he is. Calm, lucid, refreshed by the eight days spent in Livigno.

An initial assessment before leaving again?

The results say that the Giro didn't go too well. But I'm back to feeling good on my bike. I feel like myself again, and I've started working differently again.The Adriatica Ionica Race will be held to further improve the pace in a month when the European Championships will not be held.

Your teammates say they'll do everything they can to help you win the first stage in Aviano.

Victory lightens everything. The absence of the Europeans weighs heavily. The quartet still has the reference of the stopwatch, but you don't know what times the others are making.It will be like this for everyone, because except for a few Class 1 races like Fiorenzuola (June 30-July 5) and St. Petersburg (July 8-11), there will be no activity. Running would have helped those competing in the Madison to hone their understanding. In training you work on technique, but you will never be able to simulate the unexpected of the race.

Do you think you can get back into the game for the quartet?

I think about training and giving my best. Quartet selection is easy: if you make the time, you're in.But we'll all have to be able to contribute to making three quartets of 3'48" in two days. I think Villa will make his choices in the final tests.

Will the selection process take place on the same days as the European Championships?

Exactly. And we'll have to get there right. The European would have been a transitional one, he would have helped us define the rolesThere's a month and a half to go until the Olympics, so we shouldn't be at our peak by the end of June.

So would it have been desirable to run the European Championships with the Tokyo choices already made?

Maybe not definitively, because the selection would have taken place on the pitch. The match would have served to provide final signals, not to push for a performance. We still need to go in with guarantees. We know very well that there are some fixed pawns and others who have to earn their place. The boys know it, the tension in Livigno was felt.

When did you last make a top-level quartet?

In fact from the European Championships in Glasgow in 2018, which we wonNow they're pushing two more teeth, but technically we'd already moved in this direction.

Will the Giro be useful for Tokyo?

It was a good block of work, done in a timely manner. Now you can add quality through specific works.

Did you hear that you're leaving your train and going to run to Eolo-Kometa?

There is nothing definite and the problem is that I don't like to fail, as it has been so farI know I'm still the Viviani of two years ago and I don't want to turn my back on my groupEvery result will help change things, so I asked Lombardi (his agent, ed.) to leave me alone until after Tokyo. But among the options, I still keep it in plain sight Cofidis. I would like to continue with agree, Sabatini e my brother Attilio. But now's not the time to think about it. We just saw the Olympic jersey...

What effect does it have?

It's always a special moment. It makes you want to honor her, it's the official beginning of the adventureWe have to get to Tokyo, look back, and say we did everything we could. The two days in Rio where I won gold were the easiest of my career.. Precisely because of everything I had done before.