Giovanni Visconti had his 2014 season to the worst possible start as the 31-year old Italian fractured his leg in the crash at the inaugural People’s Choice Classic in Australia. After a long recovery period, the Movistar rider eventually returned to competition at the Giro del Trentino and claimed to have positive very sensations following the event’s opening team time trial.

Visconti was pleased to keep up the pace of his team-mates throughout the whole time trial and, as a result, to finish the stage in the same time as Movistar team. There was no surprise that the two following mountain stages in Dolomites proved to be a tough challenge for the recently recovered 31-year old Italian and so he lost about twenty minutes to leaders on both occasions.

There is no any rush, however, as an unfortunate accident from January forced Visconti to change his initial racing programme and the Giro d’Italia double stage winner from 2013 will not participate in the Italian grand tour this season.

Instead, the former Tour of Turkey winner plans to use the Italian four-day event to clock first racing kilometers of 2014 season and start slowly building his disposition in order to gain a spot in the Movistar roster for the Tour de France.

“Yesterday’s time trial gave me a boost of confidence since I was able to stay with my team mates and offer my contribution. Now my goal is to find a proper rhythm, I was given a free role in Trentino so I can do as much as I feel [ready for], but what really matters is to work well and get prepared for the upcoming events,” Visconti told Tuttobiciweb.

“Unfortunately I will not ride the Giro, since the injury I suffered in Australia has been very serious. I will try to bounce back at the Tour de France.”