On the eve of the departure of the Tour of Italy, with tosatto there was discussion about the absence of Elia Viviani from the team Ineos Grenadiers at the start of the pink race. The Rio 2016 Olympic champion is in Hungary these days, right from where the Giro started, but is racing in the Hungarian country stage race, where he came close to success in the first stage.
We talked with him not only about his performance at the Tour of Hungary, but also looked beyond, toward a promising second half of the season and a Giro that sees him as an ever-interested spectator. But let's start with the Hungarian events: «In the first stage I was really close, in the second I was with the 54 and when it was time to change the chain jumped. In the third… well, let's forget it. I have to say, however, that I'm in good shape, I'm very happy with how I'm doing and how I feel."
What race are you running?
I had already been there in Hungary, but it seems to me that it is a higher level test than in the past. There are 12 WorldTour teams, all strong riders enter the breakaways, you can see that the teams care, even if they have the second team here with the big names, some at the Giro and some preparing for the Tour. But it takes work to stand out.
Didn't it make a difference to you to arrive in Hungary right after the start of the Giro d'Italia?
Well, when I arrived, everything, already from the airport, was talking about the Giro, it all seemed rosy… But it didn't have a particular effect on me, I knew for a long time that I wouldn't be at the Giro, I was and am focused on winningI just think about feeling good and continuing on this path that seems positive to me. I follow the programs we had established and that's it.
What's next for you after Sunday's conclusion?
I will be in Livigno starting from Monday for another period of altitude training and I will stay there until the end of the month, to then face a challenging June, starting from a classic that I care about like the Brussels Classic to get to another stage test, the Tour of Occitania with other races in between. All thinking about the Italian championship which will be the pinnacle of this other tierI'll be more relaxed in July, but in the meantime I hope to have clarity on my summer goals...
In what sense?
I need to talk to Welcome on the possibility of competing in the European Championships on the road, I would like to go there with ambition, because the Monaco route is very suited to my possibilities.However, I'm convinced that you have to earn your expectations on the pitch, which is why I want to talk to the manager with results on my side. I have to prove that I can be competitive.
So in Monaco we will see you on the road and not on the track.
The unification of Europeans is to my disadvantage and I don't like it very much.I know it was done because cycling is part of this new multi-sport event (the European Cycling Championships will be shared during the same period with a dozen other sports disciplines, starting with athletics, to form a sort of mini Olympics, editor's note) but honestly it's not something I like.
You're 33 years old, you've won a lot and you've accumulated enormous experience, always maintaining a certain balance between road and track: isn't it true that with age this balance increasingly tilts in favor of the latter?
For me it's the same, it's not that I race more on the track during the season. I did the first stage of the World Cup in Glasgow and then I'm focusing on the road, I'll be back on the track for the World CupThe fact is that people judge based on results: on the track I win, on the road I come second, third, fourth… But nothing has changed.
You were talking about placings, but it seems like you're approaching them with a different spirit...
I'm feeling better than I have in recent years, that's for sure. I'm happy with how I'm doing, but it's also important to remember that I'm on a team without a real powerhouse, which means you have to invent every sprint, so you can compete in fewer of them. I was there in the first stage and finished second, but in the other two I had no real chance of doing so. In these conditions, when you miss the opportunity you know you will have to wait for another one.. With a train it's different, but this is not just my problem: here in Hungary there is only the Quick Step which has a real train and Jacobsen dominates, but one like Groenewegen for example he hasn't done a sprint yet.
It almost seems like a return to the past, when there were no or very few trains for sprinters. Is this a good thing?
I wouldn't say so, because every sprint becomes a war. At the moment, Gaviria is the one in the best form at the Giro, but he doesn't have a train at his disposal, the sprints are developing in complete chaos and he's getting nervous because he can't show it.. There are Cavendish e demare They have the team at their disposal, but the defense is a disaster. I heard this week agree who told me about the group's nervousness. The bright side, if anything, is another.
What?
There are finally teams going to the Grand Tours built exclusively for sprinters, just like Quick Step and Groupama FDJ at the Giro. This hasn't happened for a long time: the teams have started to understand that you can't aim for everything, you have to make a preventive choice on what the objective should be, whether the classification or the breakaway stages or the sprints. In this sense it is better.
You're without a train in Hungary, how do you interpret the sprints?
Ho amador who thanks to his qualities acts as a bit of a wild card for the team, he helps me in the phases leading up to the final, then there is Turner who tries to put me in the best position for the last kilometer, there I have to do it alone. Ben is very good, you saw him in the classics, but he is a first year and he is certainly not a last manThey're working really well, like the whole team, and I'd like to repay them with a good result.
