Viviani eyes up sprint finish at Tirreno on Friday
15 March 2019 06:55
Tirreno-Adriatico can expect its first bunch sprint at this year's race when stage 3 finishes in Foligno on Friday, where Elia Viviani is hoping to take his fourth victory of the season, and his Deceuninck-QuickStep team's 17th. While most of the world's best sprinters are currently racing in France at Paris-Nice, arguably the world's best sprinter is plying his trade in Italy – and Viviani is going to take every opportunity he gets to add to his and his team's win-tally. "When there aren't many chances, you can't it mess up," he told reporters at Tirreno on Thursday. "You've got to get it right, and Friday is the first chance we've got, and we'll give it a go – even if we saw at the UAE Tour that Fernando Gaviria is the rider to beat."ADVERTISEMENT The Italian road race champion is racing on home soil for the first time this season, but has already racked up wins in Australia at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and on a stage at the Tour Down Under, and in the Middle East with a stage at the UAE Tour, where rival – and former QuickStep teammate – Gaviria also took a win. "You can never write off Peter Sagan [Bora-Hansgrohe], either," warned Viviani. "He's had some health problems, but he's always up there. Giacomo Nizzolo [Dimension Data] has had a good start to the season, too, winning a stage at the Tour of Oman, and can only get better after his knee problems. We've got to watch him and others. "And we've got to be careful that our battle with Gaviria doesn't help someone else win," he added. "But it'd be great to go head-to-head with Gaviria in a really good sprint."
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