Italian rider Filippo Pozzato (Lampre Merida) has sounded a confident tone regarding his chances to take top honours at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday and conveyed the hope that his below-par performance at Milan-San Remo was caused by the horrendous weather conditions rather than a lack of form.

Actually, Pozzato was well-placed with the leading group on the Poggio when the decisive move went clear but was unable to follow and finished the race in 33rd place, and he last weekend he made no impact at E3 Harelbeke or Gent-Wevelgem.

“My form is good, it’s where I wanted it to be,” Pozzato told Italian newspaper La Stampa. “It’s true that Milan-San Remo didn’t go the way I hoped it would. I had to use up a lot of energy between the Cipressa and the Poggio and I was missing something in the end. That can happen when it’s very cold, and often the time differences don’t tell the whole story.”

A year ago, Pozzato lost out to Tom Boonen in a close sprint decision in Oudenaarde at the Tour of Flanders, but claimed he had no regrets about chancing it against the Belgian in the sprint instead of going on the attack prior to a sprint.

“I have only one recrimination – I should have launched the sprint earlier because Tom suffers in long sprints,” Pozzato said. “For the rest, I’d do the same as I did a year ago. I sparked the move and then in the end, I was confident because I’d beaten Boonen before in a sprint at Harelbeke.”

In line with most observers and bookmakers, Pozzato regards Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard) as the obvious favourites for victory on Sunday, although he stated that Sagan’s tactical shrewdness still needs to be perfected.

“At Milan-San Remo he was the strongest, even though he lost to Ciolek. He’s a fuoriclasse, but winning so much so early can also wear you down and have a boomerang effect. He’s racing a lot. He needs to learn how to measure and manage himself as best he can.”

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