Wednesday 14 January 2015 15:32, UK
New signing Elia Viviani is confident he can help transform Team Sky back into a sprint force and believes they have the personnel to build the "perfect lead-out" train.
The British squad have largely overlooked flat races since the departure of Mark Cavendish in 2013, but with principal Sir Dave Brailsford aiming to develop “a more complete” team over the next five years, sprints are once again back on the agenda.
Viviani was signed from Cannondale on January 1 to bolster the team’s options and the 25-year-old Italian has made the one-day classic Gent-Wevelgem and stage wins at the Giro d’Italia his main goals for the first half of the 2015 season.
Gent-Wevelgem traditionally ends in a bunch sprint and with Viviani likely to be supported by classics specialists such as Bernhard Eisel and Ian Stannard, he is confident Team Sky will have a strong chance of victory.
Viviani told skysports.com: “The first big race for me is Gent-Wevelgem – that’s the big focus of the first part of the year. Then after that my priority will be a Giro d’Italia stage win.
“We have some big riders for the sprint. If I think of the perfect train, I think of Geraint Thomas, Ben Swift, Bernie Eisel, Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe. It’s the perfect lead-out.
“Maybe all of these riders will be at Gent-Wevelgem and, if they are, I will have one of the strongest teams.”
Viviani has amassed 30 wins in his five-year professional career and while the majority of those have come against lesser fields in smaller races, two victories over Cavendish at last April’s Tour of Turkey offered ample evidence that he has the speed to compete with the best sprinters in the world.
Team Sky’s past emphasis on supporting climbers over sprinters may have deterred an up-and-coming sprinter such as Viviani from joining, but the three-time European track champion insisted he had no hesitation in making the switch.
I don’t have the power of Kittel or Greipel. I am about 500 watts down on them, but I am ready with a good lead-out to make up for it.
“After five years in Liquigas and Cannondale, this is a big chance for me,” he added. “This is the moment for me to take a big win and this is the perfect team to do that.
“Team Sky is not normally a sprint team but the mentality this year is changing. If we try for the sprints we can take pressure off the team if we can take some victories and stage wins.”
Viviani, who is a three-time European champion on the track, admits he does not have the power to match Marcel Kittel, the German widely regarded as the best sprinter in the world, but he believes his Team Sky team-mates can compensate for the deficit.
“I don’t have the power of Kittel or [Andre] Greipel. I am about 500 watts down on them, but I am ready with a good lead-out to make up for it.
“We will work as team to arrive at 150m in the perfect position and hopefully that will help me beat sprinters like Kittel.”
