No pressure on U23 world champion

By Jean-François Quénet in Nice

The winner of the U23 world championship in Stuttgart last year has been seen in action during Paris-Nice, especially when he went in a breakaway during the shortened stage one. A former member of Pro Continental team Wiesenhof and continental South African team Konica-Minolta in the past two years, Peter Velits experienced the highest level of professional cycling for the first time with Team Milram.

"It gave me a pretty good indication on what I can do, I felt very good after the Mont Ventoux," Velits said. The Slovakian will see more of the ProTour standard of cycling as he'll take part in the Critérium International, the Tour of the Basque country and the Ardennes classics in the near future. "It's a big difference for me to move into a team like Milram, but they don't put any pressure on me. I set the goals for myself. It was my own decision to break clear on the first day of Paris-Nice. This year, I want at least one win as I did last year at the GP of Fourmies."

He'll return to Mallorca for training after Paris-Nice as the weather might not be the best in his Belgian town of Riemst Valmeer. A start at the Tour of Italy is up in the air for the U23 World Champion who can climb, sprint and time trial.