Twelve months ago, Elia Viviani walked into the Adelaide Hilton with a point to prove. He had just moved from Team Sky to Quick-Step Floors, and the Tour Down Under would be his first race in the Belgian team's classic blue colours. After a season in which Team Sky had shackled the Italian's sprint ambitions, he was finally free to showcase his undoubted talent on a consistent basis.
We all know what happened next. Viviani would win a stage in Australia and go an almost unstoppable winning romp across Europe that would eventually settle on the final stage of the Vuelta a España in Madrid. By the time he finished his season, he had won seven Grand Tour stages, a national championships on the road and several important one-day races. Argue all you want, but Viviani was the stand-out sprinter of 2018.
A year on from his Quick-Step debut, Viviani struts out of the lift at the same hotel and takes a seat in the lobby. The only discernible difference is that this time he's carrying an Italian national championships jersey with him after finishing up a photo shoot on another floor. He hurt his foot in the late crash that stopped him contesting Sunday's Down Under Classic criterium but it will not stop him chasing more sprint success at the Tour Down Under.
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"We came here last year as a team that included Fabio Sabatini and Michael Mørkøv. We started well, and from there we just kept on rolling," he tells Cyclingnews as he leans forward, almost to emphasise that it all started right here.
"We had that momentum all through the year, and always had results. At every race I went to, I was treated like a leader and there was pressure to get results, but it was good pressure. There was a block in the spring when I lacked a win between Milan-San Remo and Gent-Wevelgem, but the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta were amazing."
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You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/viviani-there-isnt-another-lead-out-train-like-ours
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