After several years as a emerging sprinter at the Bardiani team, Sacha Modolo took an important step in his career when he joined Lampre-Merida for the 2014 season. With 8 victories, including two at the WorldTour level, the Italian is pleased with his performance and now looks ahead to 2015 where he will focus on the classics and the Giro d'Italia.

Sacha Modolo managed to take no less than 8 victories in 2014 which was his first year with the WorldTour Lampre-Merida team. The Italian even got the chance to "discover" the Belgian races and with two wins in the Three Days of De Panne, he proved that he has the skills to excel in the tough race in the North.

"I think it went pretty well," he tells Tuttobiciweb in an interview. "I also had many disappointments, not only due to myself but due to many setbacks. I have a clear conscience. In the Tour de France, I had one case of bad luck after the other and I could no longer maintain the condition that I had. Luckily I managed to win the final stage in China (at the Tour of Beijing, ed.) and that gave me morale for the winer because frankly I was a little bit shattered. I had a wonderful experience racing in the North where I figured out in which races I can target a good result and in which races I can ride for the win."

Modolo beat Marcel Kittel in De Panne and Mark Cavendish in the Volta ao Algarve but he still hasn't won a stage in a grand tour.

"I don't know what role I have in the WorldTour," he says. "I do not think that I am a champion but I am a good rider. This year I managed to beat a certain type of riders like Demare, Kristoff and Kittel more often than before. Now I need is to beat them in the most important events. If I look back, I only have a few regrets regret: I missed out in Gent-Wevelgem are missed and in Sanremo I reached the finish with the best but I can could have done so much better. In 2015 I want to try again and be able to be the riders I mentioned in races that really count. And then I hope not to have the same bad luck as I had this year."

In 2015, Modolo plans to focus on Milan-Sanremo and the Northern classics before he will return to the Giro d'Italia after a one-year absence.

"It should be like that," he confirmed. "I will do the Giro because I have noticed that I will be able to fight for the win in several stages with the condition I had last year. Unfortunately, I had staked everything on the Tour and it went really bad. The Giro is a harder race than the one in France and then I will focus on the classics in Hamburg and Plouay in the second half of the season before I go to Canada. Then let's see... Since I am already almost in America, I would love to be at the Worlds in Richmond in the United States."

Having got a taste of the classics, Modolo targets success in the Northern races.

"In Ghent[-Wevelgem], I crashed three times but rejoined the peloton with 10km to go," he says. "However, I could no longer do the sprint but I realized that I can achieve a good result in that race. Tour of Flanders is a far more challenging race which is too hard for me unless it evolves in a certain way. To obtain success, it is necessary that Cancellara and the other favourites are not in great condition and look a bit more at each other instead of attacking. I could be there in case of a sprint finish. But when the big guys hit the gas, I cannot keep up with them."

Modolo finished fourth when he made his debut in Milan-Sanremo. With the course have returned to its original format, there may be another good result in store for the fast Italian.

"It is more beautiful and less dangerous," he says, referring to the finish on Via Roma. "I have participated five times and in four of them, it has been rainy. They are back to the classic route and I really want to do well, hopefully in good weather. When it's raining and it's cold, I am only at 70%. I want to be a protagonist. I was fourth in La Primavera in my first year and I want to improve on that."