Sylvain Chavanel considering marking Giro d’Italia debut in 2013
Sylvain Chavanel is a very well-known name in the sports of cycling as he has been around for quite a while now.
The cyclist has added several victories on his resume with participation at almost all the World Tour races all through the season.
He holds as many as 12 Tour de France participations to his credit through 2001 to 2012 consecutively, along with three Vuelta a Espana participations under his belt.
However, one race that the French has never raced ever in his professional career is the Giro d’Italia and has shown interest towards marking his debut at the Italian Grand Tour in the season ahead.
The cyclist marked his professional debut with Team Bonjour in 2000 and stayed with the team till 2004.
“I’d love to be there someday – it’s the only grand tour that I haven’t done and the only leader’s jersey that I’m missing. I’m thinking about it. Why not next year? I’m going to talk about it with my team,” Chavanel told La Nouvelle Republique.
Tour de France has really been his top priority and he has never missed it even once, since his professional debut in 2001.
“The Tour is something else and at a certain age, maybe I won’t take part in it anymore. You need to be in perfect condition,” he said.
“This year, the first two weeks are perfect for me. On the other hand, the last week is a bit too hard. It’s probably too much to do the classics, Giro and Tour, you’ll have to make a choice,” he Sylvain concluded.
The 33-year-old marked his professional debut with Team Bonjour in 2000 and stayed with the side by the end of 2004 season.
He joined Team Cofidis for 2005-08 seasons and accepted an offer from Team Quick Step in 2009.
Chavanel helped the team with several top performances in the past four seasons and is looking ahead to continue his superb form in the season ahead.
His top performances in the current season include first place finishes at the World Team Time Trial Championships, National Time Trial Championships and a first overall finish at the Three Days of De Panne 2012 along with a stage 3b win at the event.
Sylvain finished second at the Eneco Tour, Dwars door Vlaanderen, Chrono des Nations, eighth at the Paris-Nice and occupied the tenth overall position at the Tour of Flanders 2012.
Only time will tell, if the French decides to skip his home Grand Tour to ride for the Giro d’Italia in the season ahead.
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