The Three Days of De Panne was not originally on Filippo Pozzato’s schedule, but after illness forced him out of E3 Harelbeke and limited his mileage at Gent-Wevelgem, the Italian has elected to stay in Belgium for the week in a bid to get his preparation for the Tour of Flanders back on track.
"I was four days off the bike, so I need it – it’s important for me to get some race rhythm again," Pozzato told Cyclingnews at the start in De Panne’s Koningsplein on Tuesday morning. "I’m definitely better than I was but I’m still feeling a bit weak so we’ll see how I go. I already wanted to do the whole race on Sunday at Gent-Wevelgem but the doctor ordered me to stop early even if I felt good because I’d had a fever up until the day before and he didn’t want me to do too much too soon."
Without a win since the GP Ouest France in September 2013 and out of contract with Lampre-Merida at the end of the year, 2015 promises to be something of a make or break campaign for Pozzato. Tellingly, no WorldTour rider had racked up as many race days (30) as Pozzato ahead of Milan-San Remo, but his hopes of a second victory on the Via Roma were wiped out by a crash on the descent of the Poggio. Contracting a stomach virus on arrival in Belgium was, well, a case of adding illness to injury.
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"I was going well at San Remo and then I crashed on the descent of the Poggio with four kilometres left right when I was in front, then I came here and I got sick just before Harelbeke," Pozzato said. "I haven’t had any luck so far, but hopefully things start to turn around soon…"
April, in cycling terms at least, is the cruellest month. During his career, Chris Boardman reckoned that it was near impossible to build form through racing at this particular point in the calendar but Pozzato remains hopeful that he can recover his condition in time for the Ronde.
"Well, let’s hope so – I’ll tell you for sure on Sunday evening," Pozzato laughed. "I want to get through De Panne first, but, yeah, I want to be up there on Sunday at Flanders fighting it out for the win."
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