Elia Viviani won nine races this year and he confirmed that he was one of the best sprinters in the pro peloton. The Team Sky rider is currently in Switzerland to aim at qualification for the Omnium at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The Italian was also part of the Italian team pursuit that made it through the qualification round on Wednesday. He will compete in the Madison with Simone Consonni.

"It’s time to get serious, I’ve only really got three Omniums to ride before the Olympics. I’m thinking about qualification points but I also want to win because my form is good," Viviani told La Gazzetta dello Sport accordind to Cyclingnews. "I’m riding the Omnium here at the European championships at Cali at the end of the month and then at the World Championships in London. I won’t be in New Zealand in December, or in Hong Kong in January. The best eight European countries qualify for the Olympic Games and Italy is currently third. That’s pretty good but it’s not the moment to make calculations. I’ll ride to win because I want to be pretty much qualified for Rio by the time we get to the World Championships. I want to try to win the world title without the stress of going for points.”

At the last Olympics in London, he finished sixth in the Omnium. The winner was Danish Lasse Norman Hansen. French Bryan Coquard and British Ed Clancy completed the podium.

"The order is now Scratch, individual pursuit and elimination on day one; kilometer, flying lap and points race on the second day. The kilo is my Achilles heel and is the least suited to my road racing and training," Viviani explained. "If I spent a week training specifically for the kilo, my legs would be so sore that it’d be difficult to race on the road. I’ll dedicate some time after the 2016 Giro d’Italia but it’s not easy balancing track and road as a professional at WorldTour level. At a European level I can make up for it in the other disciplines but the World Championships and Olympic level is much higher.

“The Omnium is tough. But I’m focused and still motivate after a long road season because I want to go to Rio and make up for the disappointment of 2012.”