Elia Viviani had offers from BMC and Orica-GreenEDGE but the Italian has decided that he will ride alongside Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins at Sky in 2015. The British team offfers him a chance to ride both on the road and the track as he prepares for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

After five seasons and 31 wins with Roberto Amadio's team that was first known as Liquigas and later as Cannondale, Elia Viviani is ready to join Sky.

"To formalize my move, only banal details remain as my manager (Giovanni Lombardi) has to return from vacation, but the contract is there, ready to sign and send back to [Sky team principal David] Brailsford," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport from Guadaloupe where he is riding with the Italian team at the European track championships.

His main objective is to qualify for the the Olympics and that's the reason for his decision to join Sky,

"Once the possibility of Garmin vanished, three options wer open: BMC, Orica and Sky. I chose the British team for several reasons. I am proud that they want me because they believe in me as an athlete that can bring victories. And above all, they want me to be their symbol on the Italian market where they have a very interesting project. Then there is my focus on the track where Brailsford gave me the maximum possibilies as he assured me all possible support for the Olympics. I had no doubts. Being on a team like Sky that has a strong experience on the track, offers me great security," he says.

Viviani even outlined the start of his season:

"In 2015, I return to my past schedule so I will do no road races in January. Then we have the Track World Championships (February 18-22) and a beautiful spring, with Tirreno-Adriatico or Paris-Nice, San Remo, the Northern classicd and the Giro."

Beyond fighting for the European title in Guadaloupe, he mainly wants to score points in the omnium to earn his spot in Rio de Janeiro.

"I have to seize this moment. I'm fine, I managed to do a good final part of the season, but I'm still sad about not being considered by [Italian national coach Davide] Cassani, not even for the list of 16 of the Worlds," he tellsLa Gazzetta.

The British team has already announced the signings of Leopold Konig (NetApp Endura), Wout Poels and Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Nicolas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Lars Peter Nordhaug (Belkin). And besides Viviani, Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani-CSF) is also on Brailsford's radar.