Champion Viviani aims to be among world’s best sprinters
dubai — Freshly-minted Dubai Tour champion Elia Viviani said that the victory was a vital step in his quest to become one of the best sprinters on the planet and added that this was just the start.
The Quick-Steps Floors, who had had worn the leader’s Blue Jersey over three days, notched another Stage win on the final day of the Tour, to seal his maiden Dubai Tour title.
It capped a fantastic week for the Italian, who had celebrated turning 29 with a Stage victory in Ras Al Khaimah, the second Stage of the Tour. The two Stage wins and the overall title came on the back of a Stage victory in the Santos Tour Down Under in Australia at the start of the season.
“To win GC (General Classification) here is an important step up. I want to be one of the best sprinters in the world. This is a good start towards this goal with the great team I have now,” a jubilant Viviani said after the finish at the City Walk on Saturday.
The Rio Olympics champion said that he couldn’t have hoped a better way to end the week with the Stage victory to wrap up the title.
“Finally, we are at the end of this Dubai Tour and I’m pretty happy with this trophy and with the Stage win today (Saturday). It is the best way to end this week,” he said.
Viviani switched teams before the start of the season by joining Quick-Step Floors after two years with Team Sky. And Viviani was quite effusive in his praise for his new team. “It is a nice trophy to keep in my house. I’m pretty proud of my team because they did a really good job today (Saturday) and also over the last few days. So, we just defended yesterday (Friday) and tried to go for this Stage win and the GC win. So, it is really the best way to finish the Dubai Tour,” said Viviani.
“We had a good start and 90 percent of this race is thanks to QuickStep because if you see all the five days, it was perfect tactics. Bryan did a really good job this week. So, we are very happy to have won the last Stage and the GC. So, it was the best way to finish this week. I’m 29 and I can feel good if I’m one year more now,” he added.
Viviani felt that he is in the form of his life and said that it all started after he won the Rio Olympics gold. “I think from the last part of the season of last year, it started falling in place and is the best period of my career. From September last year and I really took some big wins and just continued in this way. I’m really happy to join Quick-Step and I feel really lucky to be a part of this team,” Viviani said.
He revealed that he was a bit nervous at the start of the Meraas Stage but didn’t show it.
“It’s amazing. This morning I was stressed but I tried to look relaxed. Two seconds lead meant all or nothing. But we rode well as a team. The ideal situation for us was a breakaway without anyone involved in the top of the overall ranking. I had six teammates leading me out in the last corner. We missed the crash by very little. (Fabio) Sabatini closed the gap on the four guys ahead after the crash. With 50 meters to go I understood I could win the stage. With the headwind, it would have been dangerous to launch from too far out,” he said.
james@khaleejtimes.com