"I spent all of December at home, near Como, but I met up with rest of the team at a training camp in Calpe, Spain, in January -- a welcome change in weather. I trained there with Alberto Contador, and got to know him better, mostly speaking in an Italian-Spanish mix. He is very relaxed and very open with all of us.

We are really getting going into the season now: the presentation was Saturday in Vienna, I raced Sunday at the GP Marseillaise and today I am starting the Etoile de Bessèges stage race. It's cold here.

The team is really coming together since our first meeting in Pisa in December. We have our gear, our bikes, team luggage... It's certainly more organised now than what we had at the first team camp in Pisa.

You could see that in Vienna, the team was presented in a beautiful old library, it was very spectacular. It was a good time. There are so few moments throughout the year where all of us are together in one room, the riders, staff and sponsors.