After a bad start to the season, Elia Viviani (Cannondale) had started to doubt his own ability to mix it up in the sprints but today he proved that he is still a very fast sprinter when he beat Ben Swift to break the Sky dominance at the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali. The Italian was pleased to again leave his doubts behind and now look forward to the Giro with more confidence.

First winning sprint for Elia Viviani in 2014. On the finish line of Crevalcore, third stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi and Bartali (158 km long), the Cannondale Pro Cycling sprinter has stuck down Ben Swift (Sky) and Rino Gasparrini (Trevigiani) in the bunch arrival.

Viviani attended the Italian stage race after twenty days of rest to recover from the winter schedule with Tour Down Under, Tour of Qatar and the intense Track World Championships. Even if the commitment has been always the maximum, the results were not what Viviani prepared and trained for leaving him wanting more from this season.

“I have never hid that I had other expectations from my first part of the season, especially in the Worlds. Honestly, I thought to get better results. In the last weeks many doubts came into my mind and I needed something to dismiss. This victory has been the best solution” said Viviani.

“I’m really satisfied for the performance and to have broken the ice. In the firsts stages I suffered a lot. I knew my form was not at the top after a long period without racing. But this was also the reason why I decided with the team to compete at Settimana Internazionale – improve my form, test my legs in real sprints and not just in training. This is the first step to prepare for the Giro d’Italia and I’m happy I can continue to work with more confidence”.

“The sprint was our goal since the morning. We knew the stage could be a good chance for me and my teammates did an amazing work. Mohoric, Bettiol and Villella set up the pace for almost the entire day to catch the break, then Caruso and Sabatini lead me perfectly in the finale. The competition with Team Sky was really challenging – the support of my teammates has been an extra oomph to sprint”.

Thanks to Sagan’s wins and the one claimed today by Viviani, the Cannondale Pro Cycling season tally is now at four. The stage tomorrow at Settimana Internazionale will be the finale – a hilly ITT from Pavullo al Castello di Montecuccolo that will cap an exciting 2014 edition of the Settimana Internazionale stage race.