Jacopo Guarnieri is one of the best leadout men in cycling, piloting Alexander Kristoff to the majority of his 20 wins in 2015. The Italian on the Katusha spoke with PEZ Cycling on a number of topics, like leadouts and his star rider Kristoff.

“At one time I was thinking I would be one of the best sprinters in the World, when I turned Pro, because when I was younger I was really promising as a good rider. Then when I turned Pro it takes a while to get into the mood of professional cycling, so after a while I decided to re-invent myself as a lead-out man and now this is a role that really suits me and I’m really happy in this role and I hope to get even better. Maybe show more in the Classics, where I would like to perform better, with a bit of luck, because last year I was not really lucky in the Classics. But the role of a lead-out man and even the captain on the road is something I would like to take on in the Katusha team this season. That is more or less what I am and what I would like to be in cycling,” Guarnieri tells PEZ Cycling about what type of rider he sees himself as.

The Italian, 28, revealed most of his 2016 calendar to PEZ, saying that he will race mostly wherever Kristoff races, including the Tour de France.

“More or less it will be the same as Alex, so once they decide the calendar I will be with him. Normally he should be going to the Tour and I will go with him. Obviously I will need to be in shape, but if he goes there so will I.”

Turning to the Norwegian Kristoff, Guarnieri spoke about what 2015’s most winning rider is like as a person.

“He’s a really nice guy, he’s really quiet and polite to everyone, sometimes even too nice to everyone in the sprint. Like after you finish a sprint nobody says “Kristoff is an asshole”, nobody says that. He is very good to everyone and sometimes, in a sprint, you have to be a little bit nasty.”

Showing just how settled into his ways as a leadout man he is, Guarnieri’s goals for 2016 are just to help Kristoff win as often as possible in all of the big races.

“To repeat what we did last year with Alex, he had a lot of victories and maybe we can find a way to get some more. Normally my program will be the same as his and if we do the Tour de France we will be together to there and then I would like to focus on the World championships for Italy, to have a good performance there with the national team.”