Liquigas-Cannondale is sending a team built around Slovakian champion Peter Sagan to the Tour of Beijing, which starts this coming Wednesday in the Chinese Capital. With most of the stages likely to finish in bunch sprints, the Italian team will also be sending fast men Daniel Oss and Elia Viviani to maximise its chances in the first edition of the newest WorldTour race.
The Chinese race will also be another for Australian former Olympic rower Cameron Wurf, who recently returned to action after recovering from a broken rib sustained in August’s GP Camaiore.
“We come with three really top sprinters and all in good condition,” explained Wurf, who flew in from Australia, arriving shortly before his teammates. “Elia Viviani, Daniel Oss and Peter Sagan are all chances for a stage, especially when you consider that we have [Mauro] Da Dalto working with Sagan and [Davide] Cimolai with Viviani,”
“And then there is [Tiziano] Dall’Antonia, Juraj Sagan and me to do the work required to get us in the right place at the right time,” he added.
Peter Sagan will be looking to recapture the incredible form that he enjoyed in August and the first part of September, that saw him win the Tour of Poland and three stages in the Vuelta a España. Despite being one of the outstanding favourites for victory in the World championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, he could only manage twelfth place, but will still be a hot favourite for at least one stage in Beijing.
“Peter is in incredible form and if there is a day, in particular, with a small group, he will be a big chance,” said Wurf. “If you look back on what he’s done, World junior mountain bike champion, etc, it’s not surprising he is making an impression. He can sprint, climb and time trial.
“Watching him handling a bike is phenomenal and then there is the thing that he believes that every time he races he can win,” Wurf continued. “He is very strong mentally – you rarely see him crack, if ever, and is never far from a victory.
“The team supports him 100 percent and he really appreciates that,” he added. “He respects his team mates so much and as a result he tries very hard to finish off every time he is given the chance.
“But then we shouldn’t overlook the fact that Viviani has won something like four races in the last six weeks so we have options.”
Liquigas-Cannondale team for the Tour of Beijing
Davide Cimolai, Tiziano Dall’Antonio, Mauro Da Dalto, Daniel Oss, Peter Sagan, Juraj Sagan, Elia Viviani and Cameron Wurf