After a knee injury took 2015’s revelation of the year, Fernando Gaviria, out of the U23 Worlds, the Etixx-QuickStep rider says he is free of pain heading into Tour de San Luis, the race where he made his name last season.

"I am really happy at the moment because my knee is in a good condition," said Gaviria in San Luis on Saturday. "I don't have any pain at the moment. Maybe when the race starts, I will have a bit of pain in the legs but that is normal for everyone."

Gaviria took two stages ahead of Mark Cavendish at the race in 2015, before adding Andre Greipel to his list of scalps at the Tour of Britain. Despite his big wins, he seemed a little surprised with the attention he was receiving re race with names like Elia Viviani, Vincenzo Nibali and Peter Sagan in attendance.

"Riding together with these champions like Sagan and Viviani makes me feel really honoured, and this experience makes me fall in love with cycling again, I want to learn a lot of things from them," Gaviria said. "I want to thank my team for having asked me to take part in this race. Being here is really special as it is the competition which let me turn professional."

The young Colombian outlined where he will be racing after the Argentinean stage race concludes, including a Monument debut at Milan-Sanremo.

"After San Luis I will return to Colombia for the national championships. When I arrive in Europe in February, I will race Haut Var and La Provance. Then I hope to gain selection for the Colombian team at the track World Championships," he said. “Later I will go to San Remo, and then I will travel to Belgium to do one or two classics and then I will return to Colombia before I go to do California, and then I hope to do the Olympic Games."