Arroyo eyes general classifications

David Arroyo came in 20th at Tirreno-Adriatico and was the second best Spaniard, behind Caisse d'Epargne teammate Joaquím Rodríguez. Arroyo already is making preparations for the Giro d'Italia in May, knowing he needs to improve his time trialing for a better GC result.

"I am satisfied with my performance at Tirreno, although I still haven't found my optimal form. The gaps in the mountain stages weren't much, but I still need to improve."

He admitted that time trialing was different. "I didn't lose much to riders of my characteristics, like [Danilo] Di Luca or [Gilberto] Simoni, but with respect to the specialists I am still lagging. I am working a lot on this discipline and I have used the [Tirreno] time trial to make a few changes, both my position and some components. The results were satisfying. This is the area where I can improve the most for better placings in the overall classifications."

Arroyo checked out the Giro's 61.7-kilometre time trial from Sestri Levante to Riomaggiore before Tirreno and was surprised with its difficulty. There are 1,500m to climb. "For me personally I like the toughness of the time trial, I think it will benefit me."

Arroyo will take advantage of being in Italy by checking out two mountain stages, before returning home on Thursday.