Elia Viviani wins the opening stage at the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria 2012
Elia Viviani won the opening stage of the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria to continue his splendid form of the season.
The Italian finished the race in the fastest time of 3 hours, 45 minutes and 50 seconds to claim the inaugural stage of the race.
Daniele Colli, Elia Favilli, Marco Frapporti and Davide Cimolai secured the second, third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
He started the new year at the Tour de San Luis and claimed the 6th stage of the race, along with the overall victory at the Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi 2012.
The cyclist also claimed the leader’s jersey at the Giro della Provincia after the stage 1 victory.
He briefed, "Today I felt better than any day since the start of the season and when you have a super team at your side, the result can only be victory".
"The racing in January is paying off and thanks to the training on the track, which kept me out of the cold and the snow, I'm enjoying a status that allows me to race to win," Elia continued.
The 23-year-old started his professional career with Team Liquigas and is continuing his third consecutive season with the team.
Aristide Ratti, Alessandro Bazzana and Gianluca Maggiore won the first, second and third sprints of the race, while Valerio Agnoli succeeded at the first Mountain of the event.
The Italian briefed that the previous victories certainly add to his confidence and he started the race boldly. He thanked the entire Liquigas squad for its support during the race.
Viviani cited, "My teammates turned up the pace to avoid surprise attacks. In the end I just opened the throttle to win and repay their efforts".
Elia is now holding the leader’s jersey and is looking good to take on the overall position at the race.
His major competitors are Daniele Colli, Elia Favilli and Marco Frapporti as the trio is not far behind to win the overall classifications at the race.
Aristide Ratti is leading the stage 1 Sprint classifications while Valerio Agnoli is holding the top spot at the stage 1 Mountains classifications.
Viviani is now eyeing the 191.6 kilometre stage 2 of the race scheduled between Lamezia Terme and Reggio Calabria.
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