Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) rounded off his 2018 season in the best way possible, leaving the Vuelta a España with a third and final victory in Madrid to finish off what he categorically defined as his `best season ever`. A searing charge up the left-hand side of the slightly rising Paseo de la Castellana in central Madrid left Viviani with seven Grand Tour stage wins in his 2018 palmarès - four at the Giro d`Italia, three at this Vuelta - as well as the Cyclassics Hamburg one-day race, the points jersey at the Giro, the Italian national championships road race, a stage at the Tour Down Under, and a host of other, lesser victories. Viviani was the only rider to win three stages at the Vuelta, although four riders - Rohan Dennis (BMC), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Ben King (Dimension Data) and Groupama-FDJ`s Thibaut Pinot - won two apiece.ADVERTISEMENT The Italian`s last win in Madrid was by no means plain sailing, with Viviani losing contact with his lead-out train and opting instead to tell his teammates to ease back so that he wouldn`t find himself too far out of contention. The strategy worked perfectly and, in the process, Quick-Step rectified an error they had made when Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) won on stage six of the Vuelta, when the Belgian squad fluffed their lines in a roundabout late on. The lesson learned in record time, Viviani was able to come through on the left-hand side of the road for a hard-fought, but well-calculated, win. `It was the kind of circuit` - a long, single line with just two big corners - `that meant it`s not easy to stay together,` Viviani said afterwards. `We were working together well but I lost contact with my teammates at two kilometres to go, and we didn`t want to make the same mistakes as when Bouhanni won.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
|
