“A good training week for the Tour” - Pello Bilbao ambitious ahead of Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes finale

Before the final stage of the Tour Auvergne Rhône-Alpes —formerly the Critérium du Dauphiné—, Pello Bilbao took a calm look back at a demanding week, defined by physical issues and the race’s fierce level, in comments made at the start.

The Basque rider told Cycling Pro Net he wasn’t at his best in an edition that was brutal from day one: “It’s been a hard week for me, I wasn’t at 100%, and in a race like this it’s difficult to recover and find the legs,” he said, adding that this context could still have a positive side for his build-up.

“I think this week will give me a good training block for the Tour de France,” Bilbao noted, making clear his main goal remains to hit peak form for the summer’s big target.

The Bahrain Victorious rider also admitted that, in hindsight, this might not have been the ideal moment to tackle such a demanding race at full tilt: “Maybe it was a bit too early to be here fighting for a top 10, but I wouldn’t have been disappointed to finish tenth either. Still, we’re three weeks from the Tour and there’s time to bounce back.”

One constant this year has been the route’s severity and the stop-start nature of racing, which also affected many teams collectively. Bilbao summed it up as an all-out test: “It’s been a very honest race, not too tactical, just the best effort possible from the first climb.”

The bunch’s overall fatigue also limited attacking options, even on stages where the team tried to animate it. “Yesterday I tried to make the break, but we couldn’t pull a gap on the main group,” he explained.

Looking to the immediate future, the rider is confident the next few weeks will help fine-tune his condition before the Tour de France, where he hopes to arrive with better sensations after this racing block.

Bilbao also weighed in on the young talents in the peloton, praising Paul’s maturity after his recent display, highlighting both his ability to react and the age-related mistakes that are part of a natural learning curve in the professional ranks.