Filippo Pozzato had a season of two halves. In the first part, he missed out on success in the spring classics but he returned to his best later in the season when he won the WorldTour GP Ouest France Plouay. Now the Italian reveals to Cyclingnews that he was hampered by a virus in the spring.

All was set for a beautiful classics season for Filippo Pozzato when the Italian won the Trofeo Laigueglia in February and got his career as a Lampre-Merida rider off to a fantastic start. By the time the biggest races took place in Northern Europe, the Italian was, however, nowhere near the front.

Pozzato has been heavily criticized in the Italian media despite a strong return to form in the second part of the season where he won the WorldTour GP Ouest France Plouay and the Coppa Agostoni while also finishing 5th in the GP Montreal. The results earned him a spot on the Italian team for the world championships where he was the back-up plan for Vincenzo Nibali in case a bigger group would arrive at the finish.

In an interview with Cyclingnews, Pozzato reveals that illness was the reason for the sudden drop of form in the spring.

"I can't be satisfied with my season if I look at the first part but I'm happy with the second part of the year because I won some important races," he said. "There was a reason I didn’t do well in the Classics: I had a virus. I only realised what the problem was after the Classics. I didn't go out of my way to tell people because I know they'd say it was just an excuse. I was flying when Laigueglia but felt tired in the Classics and only found out why afterwards."

Pozzato failed to make much of an impression in the world championships which turned into a race for climbers. He finished 17th, 1.05 behind winner Costa, and once again found himself facing criticism from the media.

"Some parts of the Italian media had a go at me for that but I'm not bothered," he said. "I never said I'd win the worlds, they said I could. People like to have a go at me on social media and stuff but I don’t care what people think or what's written about me by the media." 

Next year Pozzato will once again focus on the classics with his first target being Milan-Sanremo which he won as a youngster in 2006. The course for next year's edition has been changed with the addition of the Pompeiana climb in the finale and Pozzato is highly critical of the alterations.

"A five-kilometre climb will make a big difference in the finale of the race after 280km," he said. "Next year the pure sprinter like Mark Cavendish won’t have a chance of winning. Milan-San Remo was special because Cavendish could win it but so could Grand Tour riders Nibali. I was somewhere in the middle but now it's more suited to riders who can climb pretty well, riders who do well in Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico could win it."

Next year, world champion Rui Costa will join Lampre-Merida and so Pozzato will have to share captaincy with the Portuguese in the classics. With Costa focussing on the Ardennes and Pozzato targeting the cobbles, he refuses the idea that there will be any kind of internal rivalry.