Monday 5 September 2016 11:24, UK
Elia is ready to hit the road after his Rio Olympics success as he revs up for the Tour of Britain.
Having returned home from the Rio Olympics with a gold medal around his neck, Elia Viviani was voted second in an Italian newspaper's poll to decide on the nation's best gold medallist.
As well as being a fine honour to receive, Elia was awarded €75,000 by the paper, but as he explains below to TeamSky.com, he plans to donate the money back into the cycling community, in an attempt to find the next Italian track gold medallist: the next Elia Viviani.
For now, the current Elia Viviani has reset his targets for the remainder of the season, and he told us that he can't wait to get back on the road after sacrificing a lot of his 2016 season in pursuit of his Olympic dream.
From Omnium champion to the Tour of Britain, Elia returns to a race where he won three stages last year, and we caught up with the 27 year old on the eve of the first stage in Glasgow to look ahead to the final part of his year - and reflect on that wonderful Olympic win.
Yeah, for sure. When I lost in London 2012 [Elia finished sixth in the Omnium] I knew in my head I would have this big focus for Rio and I worked really, really hard on the track last winter. I didn't take many results in the first part of the road season because I was really focused on the track and all the specific work. Take the Giro d'Italia for example. I knew I wasn't in the best condition for the Giro… I knew I was explosive but I suffered a lot on the hard circuits.
But after all the preparation, the worrying, all for one goal, I knew I had to do it. At the start of the season, my goal was gold in Rio. That was it. And now I've done it!
Yes. The Gazette Dello Sport held a poll so the people could vote for the best Italian medallist from the Games and I finished second. This prize is a lot, it's €75,000, and we decided to use it to improve cycling in Italy. In the last few years my first team has lost a sponsor, so I will buy some bikes and tech for them, and also my dream is to improve the track here in Verona. We have one track, but it's not in good condition. We will work a lot to get this track in the best condition we can. It's not the track for big events, but it's really important for children to improve on, as well as enjoy temselves. And now, after my gold medal, hopefully a lot of people will want to use it.
After the Olympics I'm now ready to come back on the road. It won't be easy, but I'm really focused now. I've not done much partying!
I really enjoyed the Tour of Britain last year, I've got great memories of that. I won three stages in my first Tour of Britain with Team Sky and the support was unbelievable! The support we get with Team Sky in Great Britain is amazing. I'll be targeting the totally flat stages, but not the half and half stages. I don't have the condition that I had last year. Last year the Tour of Britain was one week before the World Championships on the road and my shape was super. But this year I arrive with really explosive legs, and I hope to do my best in the really straight sprints. I think the last stage in London, that I won last year, is one of the best. In London, with so many people… it's really amazing.
We had a really strong team last year, but it's difficult at the Tour of Britain. You only start with six riders which isn't normal for us - usually it's eight or nine riders. But we have strong guys in Ian [Stannard], Swifty and [Danny] van Poppel, so I think we have one of the best lead-outs we could have from the team. This is really good for me - it makes me smile! With this lead-out, even if I'm at 80% of my form, I could win a stage. It's really good for me.
Wout [Poels] and Nico [Roche] are ready for the GC battle too - last year Wout lost the GC by only a few seconds. Normally he's a really high quality helper, but when he has a free role, Wout is ready to take a GC win for sure. I think we have one of the strongest teams in the race and we can try to repeat last year's success when we won four stages out of eight! It won't be easy but we will try - for sure we will try.
I see a few good sprints for me, the first day, the last day, and the split stage in Bristol. We're also covered for the intermediate, up and down stages, because Swifty is one of the best in the world on those stages. We have a really strong team and we're ready for every stage.
I'm not very lucky because in the same year that I work on the track to win gold on the track, I have just two months to get in good shape for the road worlds when a sprinter could win! But it can be a really good goal for the last part of the season for me. My main goal is to get back on the road and be as strong as I can - last year I won nine races on the road and this year I've won just two, so I need to win another seven! I want to win more stages at the Tour of Britain, Eneco Tour, in Abu Dhabi… And we will see with the Italian Federation for the worlds. If the whole team is ready to support me at the World Championships, then for sure I will be ready.
