2016 will be a crucial year for Gianluca Brambilla. Beyond his professional ambitions, he is preparing himself for the birth of a child in the first half of May.

Brambilla had a difficult 2015 season as he missed the Giro d’Italia due to a broken collarbone suffered at Liege-Bastogne-Liege. However, he bounced back with a solid showing in the second of the year.

"I feel very good,” he tells Tuttobiciweb. “I spent the winter calmly at home with my loved ones. I have not organized any travel because the season finished later than usual. After Abu Dhabi Tour the last thing I wanted to do was to take another plane. I was at home with my girlfriend Cristina and our friends. I trained well and on Monday I will be with the team again. We have already had an initial training camp in Denia and we now return to Spain where we will stay until the presentation to be held on January 13 in Belgium.

"I will start racing in Mallorca. Then I'll be at the Tour of Oman and the Classic Sud-Ardeche. In March I will attend a training camp because the team have so many men for the northern classics that I will not be do Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico.  I will be back in action at the Volta a Catalunya and then take part in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Fleche Wallonne, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Giro d’Italia.”

"I want to start well because those who start on the right foot are already halfway through a good season. In recent seasons, I learned that if you want to be strong from the start, you have to be prepared right from the first few races. Otherwise you accumulate fatigue, you cannot recover and you're constantly forced to chase. You get into a vicious circle with nothing nice but if you obtain a result for you and the team, you can be satisfied. The Giro will be my main goal but I also go be good in the Basque Country and to be ready for the classics where we have a really strong team. If I have the right legs in the finale, we will be one more to chase success and we can play the game more easily. Obviously we have captains but if they are marked too heavily…”

Brambilla knows what will make it a successful season.

"For myself, I wish a bit more luck to be able to get a good win,” he says. “I am a brave rider. I hope for good luck to be able to raise my arms. For cycling which is doing so much to grow and improve, I hope we can win more and more credibility. For the Italian movement in particular, we would like greater protection by the institutions. Cycling is a major sport and deserves respect. "