Andrea Guardini warming up for the Giro d’ Italia 2012
Andrea Guardini of Team Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli is currently testing his legs at the Presidential Tour of Turkey.
The cyclist will lead the Italian-British team at the Giro d’ Italia and is fine-tuning his form ahead of the Grand Tour.
He is targeting stages at the Italian race and the team’s Sports Director Luca Scinto has noted that Team Farnese Vini is eyeing at least three stage victories at the event.
Guardini told Cyclingnews, “The priority is to win one, and then we can talk after that”.
“Certainly the idea is to get to the first week of the Giro d’Italia very strong because there are a lot of stages that could finish in bunch sprints”.
“Beyond that, I’m certainly not starting off with the idea of pulling out somewhere along the line, and I’ll keep going as far as I can”, he concluded.
Andrea will miss the services of Mario Cipollini who has shown interest to return to professional cycling as a lead-out man for Guardini.
“Mario was a great athlete and a great rider, but this was a decision for the team and the management,” Guardini noted.
Guardini is enjoying a terrific season and his lightning form became evident during the Tour de Langkawi.
He secured stages at the Tour de Langkawi after his tremendous performance at the 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 & the 10th stage of the event.
Andrea also claimed the point’s classifications at the event and is now eyeing the Italian Grand Tour as the biggest goal of his 2012 season.
The 22-year-old finished at the 24th position during the opening stage of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey.
Theo Bos claimed the opening stage with Matthew Harley Goss, Daniele Colli, Alessandro Petacchi and Boy Van Poppel achieving the next four spots.
Giro d’ Italia is scheduled from May 5-27 and winner of the race will be awarded with a 170 UCI points.
Second and the third position holders will receive a 130 and 100 points in the respective order.
Andrea marked his professional debut with Team Farnese Vini in 2011 and is determined to help the team during the 2012 version of the Giro d’ Italia.
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