Guardini: I don't need a big train

Andrea Guardini is almost as pure a sprinter as you can find, awful uphill but capable of producing a very fast finish, as well as being able to handle the wind of Belgium, Holland and the Middle East. The Tour de Langkawi’s record stage winner spoke to PEZ Cycling at the Astana winter camp in Calpe, Spain.

“I think I can describe myself as a ‘pure’ sprinter. If I think of one rider to compare myself to, it would be Robbie McEwan. When he was a rider, he was a very smart rider in the sprint. I don’t know if I am as smart as he is, but I try to do my best,” he told PEZ Cycling.

Guardini isn’t able to use a sprint train for most of the season, so he too must be cunning, which has allowed him tow in eight times in 2015, and take a big sprint in the Giro d’Italia in 2012 over Mark Cavendish.

“Now there are a lot of sprinters and teams who have a sprint train and it is so difficult to take a good position for the sprint. I know that in Astana we don’t have a pure train for me, but I know I am okay if I catch the other trains, but I also know it is difficult to win in this way and many times you finish second or third. This year I was second six times, I don’t enjoy that but I know it is the sprint, it’s normal.”

“If you look at Katusha or Etixx – Quick-Step, they have a completely different team for the classics. I am comfortable with two or three guys, it’s not necessary to have a big train for me, I need only one or two guys to pilot me in the final so I’m sheltered from the wind and then I’m okay.”

While Guardini knows he will start his season in Dubai and Oman, he is hoping for a Giro spot, as the race starts in Holland with flat stages that are perfect for him. However, he will be up against it as Vincenzo Nibali plans to target the GC, which may force Guardini out the team. 

“I want to talk (to the team) about this to see if there is a possibility of riding the Giro d’Italia this year, I saw that there are a lot of flat stages at the start in the Netherlands and in the first two weeks there are some stages for me.”

For the future, Guardini hopes he can contest races like the Vatenfall Cyclassics, but admits Milan-Sanremo may be too much for him given how early in the season it is.

“I hope that 2016 will be an important season for me because every year I see I can do well in other races. I’m thinking of Hamburg (Vattenfall Cyclassics), I know I can get to the finish for the sprint and not just stage finish sprints, but also races of over 150 kilometers. I’m not talking about Milano-Sanremo, for the moment, as I know I have to work a lot before then, but for other races I can do something…”