On April 27, Elia Viviani (Lotto) started the 60th Tour of Turkey at the Atatürk Park in Antalya and he recognised the exact same place where he claimed his first pro victory.
In 2010, at the end of stage 7 and his very first pro race with the Liquigas-Doimo WorldTour team, Viviani became a winner for the first time.
A decade and a half later, he recalled the moment after winning again at the same event fifteen years on, taking victory on stage 7 of the 2025 race.
“It was a chaotic final because the lead-out train of André Greipel crashed in the last corner, one guy attacked and I followed him,” the Italian said.
Ninety victories and an Olympic title for omnium later, he’s back as a winner, just ahead of another peloton veteran, Alexander Kristoff. The Norwegian has confirmed that this year will be his last, but 36-year-old Viviani doesn’t rule out the option of racing also in 2026 – “Especially if I get close to 100 wins but I don’t get them this year,” he said.
“I was without a team this winter, it was not normal for me”, he noted as his three-year contract with Ineos Grenadiers came to an end and wasn’t extended. “
“Aged 36, it was not easy. I always said I wanted to do one more year, maybe two if I’m still competitive and today I showed that I am. Firstly I have to thank Lotto and the manager Stéphane Heulot for giving me this chance. There were only one-day races on my programme and I told the team I really needed a stage race to get into the rhythm.
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“They proposed the Tour of Turkey and I have a very special feeling with this race. The organisation is good, riders are treated well with nice hotels and nice places on the seaside, I always enjoy being here.”
During the off-season, Viviani was often named as a potential coach for the Italian cycling federation as a new cycle was started after the re-election of president Cordiano Dagnoni, but he isn’t thinking about his post-race career yet.
“Nothing is set for my future as a coach, otherwise you wouldn’t see me here on a bike,” he said. “I still enjoy waking up at home, doing the sacrifices you have to make as a pro rider. It’s even harder for a sprinter if you don’t win races. I know that at 36 years old, the body doesn’t respond anymore like when I was 20. But I still enjoy being a pro cyclist very much.”
Before Saturday, the Italian’s last victory was stage 1 of the Tour of Guangxi in China in October 2023. In three years with the Ineos, he scored four victories, quite far from his golden year when he took 18 wins for QuickStep Floors in 2018, including four stages at the Giro d’Italia and three at the Vuelta a España.
Even though he’s proved he can still win, Viviani is well aware that he’s in a different phase of his career now.
“I joined Lotto because they’re really young and they need some references in the team and I’m here also to win races,” he said. “In modern cycling, we burn a lot of young riders because there aren’t steps anymore. They jumped to the pro ranks and they pretend to be winners and leaders. I still believe there are some special guys, the names everyone knows confirm that, they turn pro very young and they win Tour de France and all the biggest races in the world… But unluckily, not all the riders are like that.
“The biggest part of the peloton still needs to grow step by step. This is what I want the young riders to know. My message to them is: don’t miss some steps, do some smaller races as well and once you’ll know your value, it’ll be time to do everything at perfection to win races.”
Perhaps the words of a coach in the making, the only question is when…
