Oscar Gatto claims he has no regrets despite spending 5 years at ProContinental level as part of the various incarnations of Luca Scinto’s teams.
"During the five years with Scinto, I was still always able to do a lot of WorldTour races," Gatto told Cyclingnews. "Maybe not every year, but we usually did the Giro d'Italia, Paris-Roubaix and the Belgian classics, so for a rider of my characteristics, it suited me quite well to stay in the team. What's more, I was always treated very well on the team. But then this year, I had the chance to make a bit of a change, and I grabbed that opportunity."
He won a memorable Giro stage before but it was his 2013 Dwaars door Vlaanderen that confirmed to Cannondale that he was ready to go back to the WorldTour.
"That Giro stage win was back in 2011 and maybe people were starting to forget it a bit," Gatto said. "But winning that race in Belgium last year brought me back to the level that I had been at before. It added to my value as rider, and ultimately, it's probably what allowed me to come and sign for a WorldTour team."
Scinto himself admitted that Gatto’s development was halted slightly by the 2012 cameo in the team of Filippo Pozzato. When asked if Gatto aggress with this statement he said:
"No, I was very happy to ride with Pippo, first of all because he's a friend," Gatto said. "Besides, when you've got a strong rider on your team, you can always learn something from him, and I certainly learned a lot from Pippo. Sure, having a rider like that could preclude you from riding your own race 100 percent, but I'm convinced that once a rider shows he's going well, he'll always find space."
However, the possibility remains that Gatto may find it hard to grow at Cannondale thanks to sharing a roster with the machine that is Peter Sagan.
"We know already that for certain races, Peter will be the leader, and that's only right," Gatto said. "But races like that are always full of difficulties and twists, so you never know when you might end up with an opportunity for yourself."
However, Gatto will ride all of the Cobbled Classics in Belgium form Dwaars door Vlaanderen to the Tour of Flanders with the possibility of a Paris-Roubaix ride to come too.
Despite not riding in the Middle East this year, Gatto maintains that those races are key to success in Belgium.
"Every year, they're the patrons of the race, so I can't say I'm shocked by how it's been this year. When I first did this race back in 2007, and you could see the same superiority from them," Gatto said. "But Qatar is certainly a particular race and, fortunately, a unique one too. But in any case, it's very useful for me ahead of going to Belgium."
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