Italian Champion hoping to be back to top condition in time for Sunday's Amstel Gold Race
The Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli team headed north to Belgium yesterday with great hopes that the team, and in particular, Giovanni Visconti, could make an impact on Sunday's Amstel Gold Race. Unfortunately, those hopes could be dashed by a case of the flu for the team's star rider, Visconti.
Yesterday evening, the Italian Champion registered a fever of 38C (100.4F) as well as the customary symptoms.
The team has taken Visconti out of the other two races the team is taking part in for this trip - today's Brabantse Pijl and tomorrow's GP Denain.
The hope is that the hilly one day specialist will be back to top form in time for Sunday's Amstel Gold Race.
Under normal circumstances, it shouldn't be the end of the world if Visconti were to be less than stellar for the Amstel Gold Race due to the flu, but since his Farnese Vini team only got one invitation to the Ardennes Triptych (comprised of Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne, and Liege-Bastogne-Liege), the Amstel Gold Race has now become one of the team's and Visconti's major focus points.