In the Tour to help Peter Sagan in the sprints, Elia Viviani is waiting for his time to come. The track specialist and sprinter talked to Letour.fr about whether or not he wants to choose between the track or the road.
“For the time being, I've been here to lead the sprints out for Peter, but in the end of the Tour, if the race for the green jersey is over, I hope to have my chance in the bunch sprints,” said the Venetian sprinter, who rode the Giro and the Tour after a full track season.
“I was a bit tired after the Giro but now I'm feeling better and better,” said the Cannondale track specialist, out for revenge after missing out on his main goal of the season – winning a Giro stage.
Winner of two stages on the Tour of Turkey and one in the Tour of Slovenia, Viviani also celebrates his Tour debut, at 25.
“It's a big emotion. You can tell it's the biggest race in the world. On the Giro, when you know it's going to be a sprint, you take it easy in the first 100 kms. It doesn't happen on the Tour. It's full gas all day,” he said.
And while he finds the race tiring, he is hoping the sprinters who dominated the first week will fade as days go by.
“There's a whole generation of young sprinters like Demare, Coquard, Modolo or myself and I hope our time has come to win stages,” he said.
As far as his double life as a road and a track racer, he has no intention to choose. “I'm not a full time road racer and I'll continue to race on track with the Rio Olympics in mind,” he said.
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