Although he won a stage last year, beating Mark Cavendish and the other top sprinters to snag stage eighteen, Andrea Guardini has confirmed that he won’t ride this year’s Giro d’Italia. Instead, the young Italian is hoping to gain selection for what would be his first Tour de France, although that will depend on him showing good form in the run-up to the event.
Guardini moved to the Astana team after two years with the Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli setup. Graduating to the WorldTour is a plus for his career, but it does also mean that the competition for places on the roster for races such as the Giro is more evident.
“I don’t make the Giro this year because all the team correctly will work for Vincenzo Nibali for general classification,” he told VeloNation in a video interview yesterday. “For me, maybe there is the possibility to go to the Tour de France. I want to do this as it is the most powerful race. I have to take the place in my team in the Tour.”
Now 23 years of age, Guardini impressed two years ago when he clocked up eleven wins in his debut season. He took five stages in the Tour de Langkawi, one in the Tour of Qatar, two in the Presidential Tour of Turkey and one each in the Volta a Portugal, Tour of Slovenia and the Giro di Padania.
He followed that up last year with ten wins, including that Giro d’Italia success. This year has yielded just one so far, a stage in the Tour de Langkawi, and he is trying to add to that this week.
“It is important because this is my new team, my first year in this team, and I want to make all the best for my team and my guys,” he said yesterday. “I am feeling good.”
Speaking prior to the start, he said then that he wasn’t sure if he would be in a position to dispute the finish. “This fifth stage has a start a little hard for me, but we make this and after we think if there is a breakaway or not, and what we have to do,” he explained. As things turned out, the stage was indeed too tough for him to be in the hunt for a win, but tomorrow and Sunday should be much more suited to his characteristics.”
See the video above for Guardini’s thoughts on moving up to the WorldTour and aiming for the Tour rather than riding the Giro.