Italy’s Pozzato races today in France at Paris-Tours, but still reflecting on a lost occasion
Italian Filippo Pozzato will race the Paris-Tours race today, only one week after he lost a chance at winning the World Championships. It is a lost occasion that hangs heavy on his mind.
Pozzato led the Italian national team at the World Championships in Geelong, Australia. His team helped shaped the race, above all with the attacks from Vuelta a España winner, Vincenzo Nibali. Pozzato formed part of a big lead group with only three laps to race and then sprinted to finish fourth overall behind Norway’s Thor Hushovd.
“It is my responsibility, because the team rode very well, everyone was in tune,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I cramped in the last lap while Gilbert was attacking, and it took something out of me. So, in the final, I was not 100 per cent confident and also I made a mistake to follow [Oscar] Freire and not [Thor] Hushovd. I am not saying that I would have won, but…
“I’ll repeat it, it is my fault and I am not afraid to say it.”
Italy’s new coach, three-time Worlds winner Paolo Bettini guided the team for the first time. He relied on Nibali and Giovanni Visconti to make an attacking race, and on Pozzato to win.
Bettini “asked me if I had reviewed the sprint and I replied ‘no.’ So, he told me something like, ‘You did well, but do you realise that you lost a great opportunity?'”
Pozzato will have another opportunity to win today and to help erase his regrets. This morning, he started the 233-kilometre French classic, Paris-Tours.
“The jet lag is not yet completely gone, but it will be the same for everyone coming back from the Worlds. Certainly, I have not lost the benefits form the work that I did at the Vuelta. I have a good base. I will try to win,” he said.
“The favourite? Philippe Gilbert above all, at the Worlds he was the strongest, even if he finished 18th. He could win Paris-Tours for a third year in a row and that would be a record. He will be very motivated. Then there is Greg Van Avermaet, even if he is in the same team as Gilbert.
“I will have to anticipate the sprinters like Daniele Bennati.”
Pozzato will race alongside Katusha team-mate and sprinter, Robbie McEwen. Their other rivals include Tom Boonen (Quick Step), Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step), Matti Breschel (Saxo Bank), Bernhard Eisel (HTC-Columbia), Gerald Ciolek (Milram) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky).