Modolo opens account ahead of Giro d'Italia

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It was a relief for Sacha Modolo of Colnago-CSF to finally bag a win this year at the end of stage 6 of the Presidential Tour of Turkey. It came just at the right time as the Giro d'Italia is around the corner, starting next week on May 5 from Herning in Denmark.

"With my teammates, I've been working on lead-outs since the beginning of the year and it didn't quite work out until now," Modolo explained in Kusadasi. "I came second at the Circuit de la Sarthe three times." The Italian finished twice second and third on one occasion in reality, but he doesn't want to consider stage 1 as a win even though Denis Galimzyanov will likely be disqualified after his positive dope test.

"I needed to get this monkey off my back. Remember last year, as soon as I won a race, I won ten of them back to back," he said. The 24-year-old from Treviso only started his winning campaign in July last year with two stages of the Tour of Qinghai Lakes in China.

"I began this year with two main goals: Milan-San Remo and the Olympic road race," the Italian continued. "Milan-San Remo didn't go as well as I expected but the season is long. I came to the Tour of Turkey to get to know where I am in terms of physical condition and I can feel that I'm close to reach my dream of winning a stage at the Giro d'Italia.

"The atmosphere in the team is great because in the region of one week, we've won the Giro del Trentino with [Domenico] Pozzovivo, two stages here in Turkey with [Andrea] Di Corrado and myself, one with a breakaway, the other one in a sprint, so we're competitive on all terrains, providing that the same group of young guys who compete in the morning and keep having fun in the afternoon will keep racing together."

Modolo made a clear call for his lead-out man Massimo Coledan to be part of the line-up of Colnago-CSF next week in Herning.

Asked by Turkish media whether or not cycling champions will come to the Tour of Turkey without talking about their preparation for the Giro d'Italia in years to come, Modolo had a firm answer: "I didn't come here to prepare for the Giro," he said. "I came here to win. I've come here every year in the past three years. I can see the organization and the level of racing improving every year. The Tour of Turkey already has the standard of a WorldTour event. We even get treated too well at the hotels."

Modolo denied rumours that he might leave Colnago-CSF in the middle of the current season to join a richer team. "I'm still under contract with [team manager] Bruno Reverberi," he noted. "I'm true to my word, I keep my promises. I've got some contacts here and there but I might as well renew with this team for next year, it's an option."