Giacomo Nizzolo will remain at Israel-Premier Tech in 2023 despite the team’s imminent relegation to ProTeam level but the Italian sprinter does not believe their absence from the WorldTour will unduly alter his objectives for the new season.
“To be honest, it doesn’t change much for me, in the sense that my objectives are in one-day races, and we still have the right/obligation to participation in all of the one-day WorldTour races,” Nizzolo told BiciPro.
“That means the Monuments, but it also means races like Hamburg, Plouay, Canada and so on. On the other hand, for the Grand Tours, we’ll have to wait for the invitations and then see what the best choice will be for me.
"My focus is on the first part of the season with the Classics and that’s not in doubt. Milan-San Remo will be the first real big objective.”
Nizzolo’s thoughts echo those of Sep Vanmarcke, who last month told Cyclingnews that Israel-Premier Tech’s demotion would not change the complexion of his 2023 season, where the cobbled Classics remain the goal, though he acknowledged that the team’s stage racing unit faced greater uncertainty.
Nizzolo joined Israel-Premier Tech last winter following the demise of the Qhubeka-NextHash squad, but his first season with his new team was plagued by injury. A crash on the descent of the Poggio at Milan-San Remo left him with a broken collarbone and compromised his build-up to the Giro d’Italia, where he failed to emulate his 2021 stage win.
Although Nizzolo notched up his first victory for Israel-Premier Tech at the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon in late July, another crash at the Circuit Franco Belge had an impact on the remainder of his campaign.
“From there it was very difficult, because it was a heavy blow with cranial trauma. The recovery was slow,” Nizzolo said. “In short, that was the outline of the season.”
Nizzolo has been training in Gran Canaria for the past week after quickly recovering from the fractured collarbone he sustained during a training ride near his home in Switzerland earlier in the month.
“When I get back, I’ll undergo more scans but in theory the worst should have passed,” he said.
“Getting back on the bike so quickly was a positive surprise. Clearly, I’m happy. Oftentimes, recovery starts in the head. I was convinced I could start again and that’s what I did.”
