Elia Viviani already knew the drill when she joined Ineos Grenadiers at the beginning of last season. The general classification is the team's raison d'être in most races on the calendar and the sprinter needs to learn to adjust his expectations accordingly.

With QuickStep and Cofidis, Viviani enjoyed a steady diet of sprint opportunities. At Ineos, he has to make more meager rations because the grand tour is off the menu. But the last week of the season offered Viviani the opportunity to satisfy his appetite.

After finishing a 1-year winning drought on the CRO tour last month, the Italian notched up his first world tour victory since the 2019 Euroeyes Cyclassics Hamburg on Wednesday.He defeated compatriots Jonathan Milan (Bahrain victory) won the opening stage of the tour of Guangxi.

Instead of lamenting the limited opportunities that have fallen on his way for the last 2 years, Viviani preferred to highlight his underlying motivation to join Ineos last winter. No other team on the World Tour offered him the same prospect of successfully toggling between the road and the track. Viviani was a team sky rider when he became Olympic champion in Rio in 2016, but in the end he returned to the British team with a firm eye on next summer's games in Paris.

"It's hard, but I just want to think about how happy I'll be in Paris next summer if I have another medal around my neck," Viviani told reporters as he leaned against the barrier in the mixed zone of the North Sea.

"The decision to come to Ineos was made to get the best possible support for the next Olympics. I knew I needed to be in an environment that I knew and I also needed to be in an environment that worked for me. The option was to go back to QuickStep or back to Ineos. It didn't happen in a quick step, so I'm glad to be back Ineos and be here.

Still, it would be negligent to suggest that Viviani has completely resigned to a minor role at Ineos during the Paris Olympics from now on. After all, this is a rider, recording 13 wins as a pro, including 89 on the Grand Tour. His victory here and in Croatia was a timely reminder of his finishing speed.

"It's true that you have to wait for your opportunity, as they did here or in Croatia, or for a period when the whole team can ride for me, but it's also true that you have to give the team an autograph so that they can believe you," Viviani said. It was. "I think these victories are important signals. I hope I can start next season like I finished this season and the team believes me. I was always convinced that hopefully, if I had the support, I could win a good race."

Already the winner of two stages of the old tour in Beijing more than a decade ago in the opening phase of his career, Viviani had an idea of how best to keep his form ticking before the late-season trek to China. During the ten days spent at home between the CRO tour to the long-distance flight to Nanning, Viviani leans on some track work to maintain top-end speed

"It's to understand your body." At the end of the season, it's pointless to leave for 6 hours.It is better to do 4 hours of quality," says Viviani. "I was able to use the 'excuse' of doing material testing to do some track sessions and I went through the week too well because it helped the quality too.

Flying around between roads and trucks, of course, defines Viviani's 2024 campaign. It looks like his season is likely to start in Australia, just because, for example, the trip will allow him to ride both the tour under the bottom and the planned Track World Cup.

"If it is confirmed, especially since the World Cup carries more weight for Olympic qualification, I would spend a month in Australia instead of riding the European track Championships," Viviani said. Before that, of course, Guangxi flatlands will provide more chances to fill the 2023 tally. "It's true that there are other leading sprinters, but I was still there and today was a demonstration of that," he said.”