Elia Viviani (Cannondale) survived some tough climbing in today's second stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné to get his first win of the season as he emerged as the fastest in the select bunch at the finish. The Italian writes his ability to handle the terrain down to his recent participation in the Giro d'Italia and now hopes to show off his good condition again before he will leave the race after Friday's stage.

Cannondale had not many ambitions for this year's Criterium du Dauphiné and only brought one of their two star sprinters, Elia Viviani, to the race to be able to field 8 riders. However, that proved to be a wise decision as the Italian sprinted past Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) to take his first win of the season.

The sprint came at the end of a tough day in the saddle that saw most of the sprinters getting dropped along the way. Nonetheless, Viviani dug deep and stayed in the main group before he unleashed his immense power at the end.

The Italian recently finished his first ever Giro d'Italia where he was one of the best sprinters and took two second places behind the invincible Mark Cavendish. He credits the huge amount of racing in May for his ability to take today's win.

"This is my first victory this year," he said. "I’m delighted. I came out of the Giro in good condition after coming second to Mark Cavendish on two occasions. That’s why I was more able than Bouhanni and Hushovd to stay in the bunch in the climbs today. My team-mates Maciej Bodnar and Kristjan Koren led me up behind the boy from Cofidis. I was in perfect position for sprinting."

The huge load of climbing did, however, make the Italian rather uncertain for today's stage.

"This morning I started with a question mark because I did not know how tough the final climb were," he said. "Only at the third-last climb, a second category ascent, did I know that it could be a good day. On the last climb Omega Pharma-Quick Step tried to force the pace to drop me. After the top my teammates handled the race very well, took control and launched the sprint as I wanted."

The win comes as a huge relief for the Italian who has come close on a number of occasions so far this season.

"The near-misses did not make me lose hope of being able to take that elusive win," he said. "Today's victory confirmed that it was only a matter of time. To come here straight after the Giro was a good choice as I arrived in France with something more in terms of condition and hunger for victory. Without those two factors I do not believe that  I could have done it today."

Viviani has two more chances to show off his speed as both tomorrow's third and Friday's sixth stage could end in a sprint. The Italian does, however, not plan to fight through the weekend's mountain stages as he now needs a rest ahead of his next targets.

"My intention is to ride the Dauphiné until stage 6 in Grenoble," he explained. "After that, it’ll be time to stop. I’m not going to do the Tour de France. Our sprinter there will be Peter Sagan. I’ve already done a lot since the beginning of the season. It’ll be necessary to take a rest soon and I won’t be racing again until August."

Starting at 12.45, you can follow Viviani's attempt to make it two in a row on CyclingQuotes.com/live.