Each committed to racing hard but also saying that they don’t feel pressure to get a specific result, 2004 Giro d’Italia winner Damiano Cunego and Classic specialist Filippo Pozzato are the two biggest names on the Lampre Merida squad for the Tour de San Luis.
The six-man squad will be neatly divided in two, with three Italians and three South Americans set to line out. Cunego and Pozzato will be joined by compatriot Sacha Modolo, while the Colombians Jose Serpa, Winner Anacona and Maximiliano Richeze will also compete.
“It's time to start the season: I'm happy and well motivated,” said Cunego. “It's the first time I begin to race so early, but I evaluated with the team that it could be a good choice. The debut in Argentina will be useful to check how I trained during the winter, without being harassed in search of a result.”
Pozzato has been working in the USA prior to the start of the season and said that things have been going well. “I trained in the past weeks in California, on mixed courses and exploiting perfect weather conditions,” he said. “I'm satisfied about the work I've done and I'm excited to start the season. I did not expect to perform exploits in Argentina, but of course I'll try to to honour the race".
Modolo is more specific about his goals, saying that he wants to repeat his stage success of twelve months ago.
“In 2013 I obtained an extraordinary victory, preceding Mark Cavendish in the second stage. I took a look at the courses and I noticed that the stages will be a little bit more tough that in the past season, so the support of the team will be even more important. I'd like to give the team and the sponsors something to celebrate.”
As for the other three riders, Anacona wants to make further progress as a climber and would like to start the season well, while Serpa feels he has trained well in Colombia and is looking forward to verification of that.
Richeze took a spate of top three finishes in races last year, including two second places on stages of the Vuelta a España, but the sprinter was unable to clock up a win. He wants to correct that as soon as possible, and will seize any opportunities he gets in Argentina.