Italian Olympic track cycling gold medallist Elia Viviani’s Aussie connection
ITALIAN Olympic track cycling gold medallist Elia Viviani says he owes his transition to becoming a road cycling sprint gun to lauded Australian-based coach Nino Solari.
ITALIAN Olympic track cycling gold medallist Elia Viviani says he owes his transition to becoming a road cycling sprint gun to lauded Australian-based coach Nino Solari.
Solari was one of the early pioneers of a raw Tour Down Under concept before the first race in 1999 with Mike Turtur as the race director.
Solari coached Viviani during the Italian’s young track cycling career in Italy before he won gold at the Rio Games in 2016 in the omnium.
The current Quick-Step Floors sprint gun is one of four five star sprinters competing at the Tour this year headlined by UCI triple world road champion Peter Sagan, Australia’s Caleb Ewan and German two-time Tour Down Under GC winner Andre Greipel.
“Nino was very important for my career,’’ said Viviani ahead of his third Tour which starts with the warm-up race in the East End on Sunday before stage one pedals off from Port Adelaide to Lyndoch on Tuesday.
“For me it was an important experience when I arrived in the Italian junior track cycling team.
“He helped me so much on the track, then he helped me make the transition to the road it’s always a balance that you have to make a decision to become a professional (road cyclist) but you have to work out your objectives.
“I really have some beautiful memories of Nino when he followed me from the junior track cycling team to the under-23s in Italy he was certainly an important man of experience for the national team of Italy.”
Viviani earned his first grand tour stage victory at the Giro d’Italia in a bunch sprint in stage 2 — Albenga to Genoa — before Moreno Hofland and Greipel in 2015.
The 28-year-old with 49 professional wins said he would return to the track in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but at this stage of his career his entire focus is on having a great 2018 season.
“There are so many sprinters here and so much quality,’’ Viviani said.
“The one to stop is definitely Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott).
“Many of the teams are really well organised and the level of racing is just getting much better every year. Also us, we’re ready, we have a very strong team and for me to ride at my very best is always the most important.
“To have a good lead out train is important for me and they will help me throughout the race.
“We want to win stages immediately. We got here early so we can also be OK with the climate, the heat, and it’s also good to train here. I wanted to immediately start the season here to put more kilometres in my legs before the spring classics (in Europe).”