Strong early season form continues for Italian
Clocking up yet another victory in what has been a superb start to his season, Elia Viviani (Liquigas Cannondale) grabbed his second consecutive stage win at the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria and sealed the overall victory.
The talented Italian sprinter powered home at the head of a large front group, with Daniele Colli (Team Type 1 – Sanofi) and Maximilian Richeze (Team Nippo) closest to him.
“The aim of the day was getting to the finish line first and bringing home the general classification,” he said after the stage. “The second stage victory was like the icing on the cake, and is once again thanks to the great work of my team-mates. Their confidence and that of the DS Volpi was a very important boost.”
His victory saw him end the two day race eight seconds clear of Colli and a further eight up on both Elia Favilli (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia) and Maximilian Richeze (Team Nippo). He’s now clocked up five wins this season, with his two stages plus the overall in this weekend’s race adding to earlier victories in the GP Costa degli Etruschi and on stage six of the Tour de San Luis.
Today’s 191.6 kilometre stage from Lamezia Terme to Reggio Calabria saw a break of five riders make a bid for the day’s honours. Paul Bailetti (Utensilnord named), Hideto Nakane (Team Nippo), Enrico Rossi (Meridiana Kamen Team), Davide Ricci Bitti (Farnese Selle Italy) and Vegard Stake Laengen (Team Type – Sanofi) clipped clear inside the first half hour of racing and opened a lead of over four minutes.
The peloton chased hard, with Viviani’s Liquigas Cannondale squad doing the bulk of the work and reeling in both the break plus the subsequent moves.
That paved the way for the race leader’s victory and overall classification win. “If this double success makes me happy, it makes me even more pleased due to the awareness of my [good] condition,” he said. “My climbing has improved a lot and, in view of the upcoming targets, that signal was expected.”
His plan now is to focus on the London track World Cup, running between February 17th and 19th, where he will continue building towards the velodrome events in the Olympic Games. After that, he will return to the road and compete in Paris-Nice.
In addition to the London Games, he also wants to ride the Tour de France and to perform well there. “These are two important tests for my season,” he explained, although today’s display shows that he isn’t waiting until later in the year to hit winning form.