Domenico Pozzovivo of AG2R La Mondiale is targeting a good GC result in the Tour Down Under despite fracturing his wrist on the Thursday before the race began.

“The x-ray didn’t show anything but a MRI scan later evidenced a small fracture”, the Italian revealed to Cyclingnews after stage one. “Therefore I have to handle a bit more pain but it won’t affect my performance. My goal is still to make the top 5. There’s nothing to do except resting but that’s what I have on my agenda after this race anyway.”

He says he is motivated by the chance to ride in a WorldTour race this early in the season and he is looking forward to the uphill finishes on stages three and five.

“I love racing in the heat and it’s great to escape the European cold,” he declared. “It was either San Luis or here. Possibly the course in Argentina suits climbers more but I prefer to take part in a WorldTour event. It motivates me to race in a more competitive field. Now it’s almost impossible for a sprinter to win the Tour Down Under. We have stage two and stage three when its important not to lose any time and then stage five to Willunga Hill to shape up the overall classification.”