Although he took the runner-up slot for a second time behind the Briton Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma Quick Step, pictured), marking himself out as the best of the rest once again, Elia Viviani has said that he must simply accept the outcome of today’s sixth stage of the Giro d’Italia.
He’d love to have won, but said that he is able to recognise that Cavendish was the deserving winner.
“I can't have regrets because even today I did everything I had to do the best I could sprint,” he said after the finish. “If the stage was not demanding in terms of the profile, it was in terms of the management of the finale. All the sprinters aimed to be there and their team-mates did everything to keep them in front. In contrast to the sprint in Naples, Cavendish was launched well: there was little anyone could do about that.”
In that light, he doesn’t beat himself up about how things turned out. “To get second is never a consolation, but I got confirmation that I am there and I can fight [for the win].”
Asked about the points jersey, he confirmed that it is a prize he’d love to take home, but also that he can’t let himself fixate on it at this point in time.
“The Maglia Rossa? It is a dream that grows, but now it is too early to say. The first goal is to win a stage.”
Like the other riders, Viviani remembered Wouter Weylandt today, two years after the Belgian rider tragically passed away at the Giro. He said that there was a changed mood in the bunch as a result, with people realising the significance of the moment.
“It is impossible to forget. On the road we all opponents but cycling is a big family,” he said. “Today, as a group they breathed a different air, an unusual tranquility, a sense of peace in memory of Wouter.”