Having missed out on the chance to once again wear the Maglia Rosa after his ISD-Neri team was not invited to the Giro d’Italia, former Italian champion Giovanni Visconti has set new goals. He’s currently leading the UCI’s Europe Tour, a continental ranking based on results in races that are not part of the ProTour and Historic calendars, and wants to chase his second consecutive overall triumph in the contest.
The 27 year old has clocked up 328.8 points, many of which came from his victorious performance in the 2.HC Tour of Turkey. He also rode strongly in the Giro di Sardegna and Classica Sarda.
Cofidis rider Jens Keukeleire is next in the standings with 325 points, while BBox Bouygues Telecom’s Pierrick Fedrigo is further back with 271.
This month, Visconti will wear the white jersey, and said that he will take considerable pride from that. “I'm happy about this news because last year I won the general classification, at the end, but during the year I wasn't leader and I couldn't wear this important jersey,” he said. “I have a special feeling with the leader jerseys, so I'm happy to wear this important symbol to the end of June.”
He will hope to continue clocking up points in the next races in the Europe Continental calendar – the Tour of Luxembourg, which begins tomorrow and runs until Sunday, then the Tour of Slovenia (17 – 20 June) and the Italian Championship.
Visconti won the won the Coppa Agostini, Trofeo Melinda, stage two of the Tour of Slovenia and the Giro’s TV classification last year, and took the Italian championships in 2007.
His team had hoped to gain another wildcard for the race, but was passed over. It did a 15 day training camp in San Baronto instead, helping the riders to remain in shape during a lay off from racing.