Farnese Vini-Selle Italia Classics captain planning to complete both races; aiming for full fitness by Tirreno-Adriatico
A little over two weeks after breaking his right collarbone in the fifth stage of the Tour of Qatar, Filippo Pozzato (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) will line up at the start of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday. The Italian Classics specialist had both collarbones operated on February 12th - to attach a plate to the broken right side, and to remove an earlier plate from a previous injury on the left - three days after his crash, and rode 130km of the Trofeo Laigueglia on February 18th, just six days later.
He now plans to ride the whole of the 200km Omloop, as well as the 195km Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne the following day, just sixteen days after his collarbone break. The Omloop alone, which he won in 2007, features ten steep Flemish bergs, and nine sections of cobblestones, but the Flouro team is confident that the Veneto rider will be able to handle it.
Pozzato has been spending time in Tuscany, at the home of the team’s general manager Luca Scinto, and taking in some kilometres in the hilly countryside.
"Yesterday [he rode] more than four hours, doing 140 km; today five hours and 170 km of work, with two thousand total metres of climbing. We are very pleased,” said a tranquillo Scinto.
The team’s doctor Daniele Tarsi is also confident that Pozzato is recovering nicely, and is happy for his rider to take on the Belgian classics.
"After the operation and the test at Laigueglia, we go to Belgium to a test for the entire length of the race,” he said. "So it is desirable that Pippo should ready for Eroica [Strade Bianche - ed], Tirreno[-Adriatico] and [Milano-]Sanremo.
“There are still some days ahead of those races, important for the recovery of the fracture,” Tarsi explained. “The tests show that Filippo has a good mobility of his limb and feels no pain, which is helpful in making efforts and working on his bike
“In Belgium we will see how he can react to the whole race,” he concluded, “but of course we will evaluate things day by day; also according to the weather"
Pozzato’s presence in the ‘Openingsweekend’ will be important to Farnese Vini-Selle Italia as, before his injury, he would have had a good chance of taking a good result for the team. Although he is much, much tougher than his carefully groomed looks would imply, it is doubtful that the 30-year-old will be able to feature at the front end of the race; with important targets coming up though, the tough kilometres should be invaluable in the recovery from an injury that could have ended his entire spring campaign.
"The great goal is still to be ready in time for Tirreno-Adriatico and, even though there isn't a lot of time, we believe he will succeed,” explained Scinto. “Filippo has a great motivation and a lot of determination, moreover he has succeeded in working well despite the fracture.
“We will continue to work to reach those goals.”
Selle Italia team for the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne
Pierpaolo De Negri, Roberto De Patre, Oscar Gatto, Leonardo Giordani, Kevin Hulsmans, Luca Mazzanti, Filippo Pozzato, David Ricci Bitti