Elia Viviani (Team Sky) enjoyed his most successful season as a professional last year, the crowning moment being his debut stage victory at the Giro d’Italia on the second day in Genova. Twelve months on, and back at his home Grand Tour for a fourth time, the 27-year-old is hungry to repeat the feat and even go one or more better.
“When you win a stage at the Giro d’Italia you understand what it’s all about,” Viviani told Cyclingnews in Apeldoorn on Wednesday ahead of the Dutch Grande Partenza. “After that, you just want to win again.”
There are, on paper, seven stages for the fast men at this year’s corsa rosa, and winning one – or two – is the priority for the Italian. Claiming the maglia rossa – the red points jersey – is an attractive prospect but remains a secondary ambition, especially given the role he must play for teammate and overall contender Mikel Landa.
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“Sure the first focus is to win a stage, then we can see about trying to win more stages than last year,” said Viviani. “The maglia rossa is a good focus because last year I wore it for two weeks and I only lost it with four days to go. Sure I don’t have a train to do all the sprints, the intermediate sprints and finish sprints, so it’s not easy, but we’ll try.”
If Viviani admits it won’t be easy, he recognises his task becomes tougher still in light of the stellar sprint field that has descended on Holland for the start of this race. With the exception of Mark Cavendish, Fernando Gaviria, and perhaps Peter Sagan, the world's best are all at this Giro, including the likes of Marcel Kittel, André Greipel and rising star Caleb Ewan.
“There are seven sprint stages for sure, maybe eight, so a lot of sprinters think it’s a good opportunity to win a Grand Tour stage. That makes it a little bit more difficult than last year, sure,” admitted Viviani.
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