Elia Viviani wants to ride for glory again

THE world’s best cyclists have landed in Geelong and will hitting the road from as early as today (Thursday, January 30) as part of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (CEGORR).

Competitors in the Elite Men’s and Elite Women’s races touched down at Avalon Airport on Monday, and some of them will be straight into action in today’s Towards Zero Race Torquay.

One of them will be defending Elite Men’s Race champion Elia Viviani, who is recovering from a crash in last week’s Tour Down Under but has high expectations for Sunday’s race.

“The race really suits me – I came in second place in the first year, first place last year – so I’m good in this race, I want to repeat the best result I can,” he said shortly after landing at Avalon.

“I really hope in these few days I can recover and test myself in Thursday’s race in Torquay, and then be ready for Sunday. Sunday is one of the big goals of the start of the season for me, and I want to be ready.

“There are a few races where in your head you have the idea ‘this is my race’, and this is one of those, sure.”

Viviani switched from Deceuninck-QuickStep to Cofidis Solutions Crédits for this year’s UCI WorldTour season, and said his new team was “super-good”.

“I have (Fabio) Sabatini, the guy who I’ve worked with already over the past two years, and (Simone) Consonni is a new rider in the team, like us, but I know him really well from the track team and I think he’s one of the strongest lead-out guys.

“The team is really strong around me, so I think if we have more riders in front after that last kick in the last 10km, we can make the difference.”

In the Elite Women’s Race, Arlenis Sierra from the Astana Women’s Team is likewise out to defend her title. She comes into 2020’s CEGORR after finishing 16th in general classification in the Women’s Tour Down Under.