Spanish sprinter hoping for better than last year’s eleventh, where he led home the second group
Francisco Ventoso will be one of Movistar’s protected riders in Saturday’s Milano-Sanremo, along with Italian champion Giovanni Visconti, who will start as the Spanish team’s number one. The 29-year-old Cantabrian sprinter has been steadily building his form for the race, in last week’s tough Tirreno-Adriatico, and is feeling confident ahead of the 298km Primavera.
“I feel good, and I’m looking forward to what will be my seventh la Classicisima,” he said after a short training ride on the eve of the race. “I think each of the previous editions has given me a degree of experience and knowledge of the race, and I hope that this edition will be fruitful.”
Eleventh place last year for Ventoso marked his best finish in the race to date; he won the sprint from the second group, just 27 seconds behind the ten-man group, from which Matt Goss took the victory. He was just unable to follow the wheels of the leader as they attacked over the Poggio, but this time will be concentrating and watching for the race to unfold.
“As usual the race’s decisive moments will come on the climb and descent of the Poggio di San Remo where it will be necessary to be careful to get in the right position and to work together to be make sure we are with [Oscar] Freire, [Peter] Sagan, [Fabian] Cancellara, [Mark] Cavendish, [Matt] Goss who, for me, are the favorites.”
So far this year, Ventoso’s results have failed to match those of 2011 – his best season to date – when he had already take a stage in each of the Tour Down Under the Vuelta a Andalucía. Three fourth places though, in the Tour de San Luis and the Tour Méditerranéen, as well as a fifth place in the Clasica de Almeria before a strong performance in last week’s Tirreno-Adriatico, point towards some good form for the race.
Movistar Team for Milano-Sanremo
Andrey Amador, Marzio Bruseghin, Rui Costa, Pablo Lastras, Jose Herrada, Angel Madrazo, Francisco Ventoso and Giovanni Visconti