After a very strong end to the 2019 season, Russian Savva Novikov was set to star in a bigger spotlight this year after securing a move to CCC’s Devo Team for the 2020 season.
Life had other plans with the pandemic, and at the time of writing, Savva has only two race days this season, the Elite Russian RR and TT.
Despite no set debut for CCC Devo in sight, Novikov remains a big climbing talent. I caught up with the winner of the 2019 Tour of Iran (Azerbaijan) last week, and now you too can get to know the third year U23 better. First we discussed 2019, where he ended the season with the aforementioned Iran win plus a stage, as well as another stage win and 2nd overall at the Tural Romaniei.
“I think I managed to achieve good results at the end of 2019 because I had a good prep block in Italy before the final part of the season, increased the volume of training and added more mountains to my program.”
Despite no race days yet, Savva says his transition to his new team has been pretty smooth so far, but like many riders, his training was difficult during the lockdown with no races to find his top level.
“My transition to the CCC Devo team went quite smoothly. During the lockdown, I tried to maintain the same intensity as before the lockdown, but without competition, of course, it is difficult.”
Savva is, of course, strong in the mountains, but he also says that despite not being a sprinter by any means, he can finish quickly from smaller groups after hard days of racing.
“At the moment, I consider myself a mountain racer with a bias towards the general classification. Of my strengths I will single out the ability to endure in the mountains, and endure in principle, I consider myself a fairly hardy racer, I can single out a sprint from my weaknesses, I can finish well when everyone is already exhausted, but a “clean” sprint is not a strength of mine.”
Like he said earlier, he has no set return to racing date for CCC Devo, and that has made goal-setting impossible for Novikov. But when he finds out his calendar, he will try to be at his best level like he always is late in the calendar year.
“It’s hard for me now to set goals for the rest of the season, because in the current situation it is difficult to make plans, I’ll just try to show my maximum in the remaining races of the season. I can’t say anything about the racing program yet, I will look at the situation and decide along the way.”
Like a lot of young climbers, Savva’s dream pro win is the world’s biggest race.
“Of course the Tour de France. I would love to ride in a yellow jersey on the Champs Elysees someday, this is my dream.”
Savva Novikov is a very strong climber and I’m excited to see him get a chance to prove himself in some of Europe’s bigger races. I think he will impress and surprise a lot of people when his moment comes.
I wish to thank Savva for taking the time to answer my questions, and I wish him the best for the rest of 2020 and beyond. I also wish to thank Konrad Kaptur at CCC for coordinating the interview. You can find Savva on Instagram here.
U23 Cycling Zone 
Savva Novikov is a very good player and expect him to perform better in the game.
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