INTERVIEW: An Olympic obsession for Elia Viviani

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  • Passionate Italian: Elia Viviani.

    For the majority of professional cyclists, the maillot jaune of the Tour de France or wearing the rainbow jersey as world champion represents the apex of the sport; the ultimate reward for the blood, sweat and tears in exhausting training camps and competition.

    Yet Elia Viviani represents something of an anomaly in the cycling community, as for him Olympic gold would trump all.

    The privilege of wearing the Azzurri, hearing the strains of ‘Il Canto degli Italiani’ – perhaps the world’s most passionate national anthem – while representing his country, plus a possible gold medal at the end of it, for the Team Sky rider would be the pinnacle of a journey which began as an eight-year-old growing up in the small town of Isola della Scala near Verona.

    It was the European Youth Olympics of 2005 in Italy which helped shape his passion for the movement, winning two golds as a 16-year-old; a feeling he wants to replicate in Rio de Janeiro in August.

    “I competed at the Youth Olympics when I was 16 and won two golds and after that experience I understand what the Olympics is all about,” Viviani tells Sport360 over the phone from his training camp in Italy ahead of the Tour of Slovenia which gets under way today; his penultimate race before Rio.

    “In cycling there isn’t traditionally a lot of passion for the Olympics; for a lot of riders it’s the World Championships, or the Tour de France… But it’s the chance to compete for Italy, for your nation, wearing the Italian jersey, and to hear the anthem on the podium with the medal around your neck. This feeling is unbelievable… it’s indescribable.

    “I understood that from when I was 16, that you are racing for all the people in your country. And you are not only in a cycling contest you’re in an international sports contest.”

    There is also the matter of unfinished business and the regret of the medal he let slip at London four years ago.

    Competing in the men’s omnium – the multi-discipline track event – Viviani was in a prime position to claim the gold but a disappointing ninth-place in the final stage, the 1km time trial, saw him tumble down the standing and finish sixth, four points adrift of Britain’s Ed Clancy for a bronze and seven points behind the gold medal-winning Dane Lasse Norman Hansen.

    “I had the gold medal with four laps to go and then I lost it and now I want to come back and take that medal,” he says. “I know I have the facility to win it, I’ve just got to work really hard and focus for that.”

    The hard work needed is not so much on the track, it’s in the gym and building muscle mass in his thighs to give him that extra strength and, theoretically, a yard of pace. Viviani claims he needs to put on around 2kg of weight – no more – for that additional boost.

    Bulk over that in a multi-stage race would leave him with too much to carry. He’s already experienced a trial run for Rio at the World Track Championships in London in March, finishing third behind Fernando Gaviria of Colombia and Australia’s Glenn O’Shea. And once again it was the 1km time trial that let him down as he came in 10th.

    Although disappointed by the result, having not won means he goes to Brazil firstly knowing what he needs to succeed, and secondly not carrying any baggage or weight of expectation as world champion.

    “The World Championships has given me so much motivation to succeed. Had I won, I may not be so relaxed going into Rio,” he adds. “But I know what I need to do. On the road it makes a real difference to my performance if I put on 2kg but that’s what I need for the track.

    “We have a lot of time for this work. If I have more muscle on my legs it is of course much better for when I am competing against (Marcel) Kittel, (Andre) Greipel or (Mark) Cavendish. Short and intensive training on the track and in the gym.”

    It’s been an up and down five months for the sprinter who finished 2015 in stunning style with two stage wins at the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour and claiming the green jersey for topping the points classification.

    He started this year with three top-five stage finishes at the Tour de San Luis in Argentina, before more success followed the UAE with a stage triumph at the Dubai Tour, second overall in the points classification to Marcel Kittel.

    Yet the Spring Classics were a painful disappointment, with a poor finish at Milan-San Remo and then a crash at Paris-Roubaix from which he was lucky to escape with minor injuries having been struck by a motorbike and sent crashing to the cobbles.

    Viviani admits he then rushed himself back to race in his beloved Giro d’Italia but the lack of recovery time and conditioning saw him eliminated in his home Grand Tour after missing the time cut during stage eight.

    “I wasn’t at 100 per cent at the Giro, my body was really tired after the Classics season – maybe we did too much for my body and I didn’t recover as well after the crash at the Paris-Roubaix as much as I thought,” he says.

    “We knew I would start the Giro at under 100 per cent but I thought I could improve as the race went on. But the Giro is a hard race and if a sprinter doesn’t start absolutely 100 per cent it is very, very difficult to finish.

    “Mentally, it hasn’t been good for me, but when you identify the problem you can find the solution. It wasn’t an injury, it was just a matter of adapting the preparation. But I’m feeling good and the big goal now is the Olympics. Everything I do in training is for Rio.”

    After the Olympics, Viviani will again be back in the Gulf region, first for the World Championships in Qatar and then the second Tour of Abu Dhabi where he has laid down a significant marker for himself to follow.

    Viviani admits, like many others in the peloton, that the incredible facilities here and organisation make it a destination cyclists will always want to come back and race at.

    “I seem to have raced when I’ve been in good form. As a sprinter, it’s so important in the first part of the season to take a stage win,” he says. “In February I am always in a good condition, while for Abu Dhabi I benefitted from some really good preparation for the World Championships beforehand.

    “Growing up in Italy, I could never imagine a multiple-stage race being in this part of the world but you can see it’s growing as a cycling region with the Tour of Oman, Qatar and now Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

    “The Dubai Tour comes at a great time. As a European it’s very cold so you come here with good conditions, stay in a nice hotel. It’s also not that far to travel. The organisation in Abu Dhabi is excellent because it’s the same people behind the Giro. When they do races, they do it in the best way. It’s a hot race but I like it. I’m looking forward to coming back.”

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