Damiano Caruso: "Winning in front of my people is fantastic"

In his home region, Damiano Caruso has obtained his first win of the season yesterday at the Giro di Sicilia as he has sprinted to the win on the hilltop finish of the second stage. After two dominating performances, the Italian national team is leading the race and Caruso will now have to defend his lead against his former teammates.

“I am very happy for this victory. I was back racing in Sicily after so many years and winning in front of my people is fantastic. All this has a particular charm," he said in a post race interview. After Matteo Malucelli won the opening stage, Caruso won the second after a strong leadout by the team in the final ascent to Caltanissetta. Behind him were Vincenzo Nibali and Domenico Pozzovivo who were in the past all teammates, but today the Italian trio of veterans fought against each other for the stage win, in which Caruso proved successful.

"A nice duel between Vincenzo and me. The last stage will be a show," he said. Although today can be a complicated day, it is likely that the GC fight will come down to tomorrow's queen stage where the peloton will do a loop and then climb up Mount Etna. Caruso will not be racing the Giro d'Italia this year, so he is focused on obtaining results here, and at the Tour de Romandie where he will be heading afterwards.

Regarding his participation in the race, in which he is teaming up with several Rusvelo riders including first race leader Malucelli, he has said the following: “It's not a good situation. Someone should do something to solve this problem, a problem not only for cyclists and their families, but also for those who worked within the team."

He is racing alongside Giovanni Carboni, Nicola Conci, Matteo Malucelli, Alessandro Fedeli and Christian Scaroni who were all apart of the former Russian team who has had it's UCI license removed and have been using the Italian calendar to race for the national team. With this said, there may be disputes between individual and collective goals, however so far the team seems to be riding collectively perfectly, and are in pole position to conquer the race.