2014 turned out to be a breakthrough year for Matteo Pelucchi who beat all the big sprinters to win a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Reflecting on a great season, he reveals that his dream is to win Milan-Sanremo.

At 25 years of age, Matteo Pelucchi has moved up in the sprinting ranks after he won a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. The IAM rider beat Arnaud Demare and André Greipel on stage 2 of the race of the two seas.

Nonetheless, he is not fully sastisfied with his season.

"I was a year of ups and downs," he tells La Gazzetta dello Sport. "The highlights were my two wins in Tirreno and the Vuelta a Burgos. The disappointment were some minot physical problems that I had."

Pelucchi made his grand tour debut at the Vuelta.

 "It was my first grand  tour and I wanted a lot but I was not ready for it. I paid for it. It's a shame because it seemed to be a great race."  

Beyond that, Pelucchi is most focused on his first WorldTour victory.

"I can be competitive in these races. I already knew it myself but I needed a real confirmation and I think others needed it as well."

This has increased his ambitions for his favourite race: Milan-Sanremo.

"But I have the feeling that this is not a very original dream. All sprinters and all classics riders, even grand tour riders, want to win it. This year I did it for the first time, but I was there to serve our leaders, [Sylvain] Chavanel and [Heinrich] Haussler."