Elia Viviani has broken his contract with Team Sky to join Quick-Step Floors. The Italian, who was left out of the British team´s squad for this year´s Giro d´Italia, had previously played down talk of a move before the end of his contract in 2018, but on Wednesday it was announced he had put pen to paper on a two-year deal with Patrick Lefevere´s team. Viviani´s transfer was announced barely two hours after it was confirmed that Marcel Kittel will leave Quick-Step for Katusha-Alpecin from 2018, paving the way for another sprinter alongside rising star Fernando Gaviria. Viviani joined Sky from Cannondale at the end of 2015, winning a stage of that year´s Giro, and he extended his contract by two years last October after a track-focused season that saw him win gold in the omnium at the Rio 2016 Olympics. The 100th edition of the Giro this year was understood to be a major goal but in the end there was no space for Viviani on a line-up focused squarely on the general classification.ADVERTISEMENT There was soon talk of Viviani being on the market, with Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport reporting that he would move to UAE Team Emirates and even suggesting he could make the switch before the end of the season. The 28-year-old, however, denied any talk of a move when asked by Cyclingnews at the end of July if he was 100 per cent certain of remaining with Sky. `Quick-Step Floors is the best choice I could make,` Viviani said in a statement on Wednesday. `When Patrick Lefevere came with this offer, I just couldn`t say no to one of the biggest teams in the world. I am honoured to join a squad with such a fantastic pedigree, one that has excelled in the art of sprinting over time. I couldn`t be happier about this transfer, so that`s why I want to thank Patrick and the entire team for this chance and their trust. `I also want to thank Team Sky for the three years spent together and the great memories, but now the time has come to take on a new challenge. This ...
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