Elia Viviani has signed a new contract extension with Team Sky which will see the Italian sprinter race for the team for two more years.
The news comes at the end of a very successful 2016 season for him which culminated in an Olympic Gold medal on the track in the omnium. In addition, he also took stage wins at the Three Days of De Panne and the Dubai Tour.
Viviani joined Team Sky in 2015 having previously raced for Liquigas-Doimo and enjoyed a succesful first season with the British team which included a stage victory at the Giro d’Italia.
He has now taken ten wins in Team Sky colours and is considered as one of the fastest sprinters in the peloton.
He said: “This feels like my team. That’s the most important thing. I feel really really good with my team-mates, the staff, and this makes a big difference. When I think of the last two years with Team Sky, I completed my dream, winning a stage at the Giro d’Italia, and this year I won Olympic Gold.
“When we talked about my new contract we also spoke about my biggest goals for the next two years and I want to try and win my dream race, Milan-San Remo. That’s on the top of my list, and I’d also like to go back to the Giro d’Italia after what happened this year. I had a bad time at the Giro and I’d like to be a protagonist of the race in 2017. The red jersey will be a big focus.”
Viviani’s sole focus in 2016 was winning Olympic Gold on the track and he’s quick to praise the team for getting behind that goal.
“When I came here my focus was to start winning bigger races – my dream was to win a stage of the Giro d’Italia, and then in my first Giro with Team Sky I did that. This year it was all about the Olympics for me, and the team allowed me to prepare in the best way possible for that.
“They knew I would need to sacrifice a lot of the road season to focus and this made a big difference to my preparations. I never had any pressure from the team to take a result on the road and they knew what my goal was.
“Not all teams have this mentality. They wouldn’t know how much time I needed to prepare for the track work. We had a lot of collaboration with the Italian Federation and I need to say thank you to Team Sky.”
