Carlos Rodriguez: "I’m thankful for the whole team for believing in me and supporting me"

The 21-year old Almuñécar native is starting another season with INEOS Grenadiers and has performed above the expectations of most on his first race of the season, the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana.

After the race, Rodriguez had every reason to be satisfied. Leading the INEOS team is not for everyone, specially when the lineup includes the likes of Pavel Sivakov and Tao Geoghegan Hart, but the Spaniard showed the legs and the form to not only lead it but to be in contention for the victory.

"My goals are to keep improving and enjoying racing my bike. If the team want me to be up on GC in another race I’ll be happy to do my best. My main goal is to keep learning and keep improving."

Rodriguez came into the race with rather unknown expectations but soon enough on the opening stage he found himself riding with the best and finished the day third en route to Torralba del Pinar. He then managed to keep his podium intact by staying safe in the flat stages and putting on another impressive performance on the queen stage to Alto de las Antenas de Maigmó Tibi where he finished second only behind Aleksandr Vlasov.

"I've been happy with the results on some key stages, I've found myself in pretty good shape and I’m happy with the work we’ve done in the last few months of pre-season. I’m thankful for the whole team for believing in me and supporting me.”

Rodriguez has been widely attributed as one of the future men to beat in Grand Tours after being hired by INEOS at the very young age of 19, he has since proved great support for the team in the mountains and was on the verge of conquering the Tour de l'Avenir over Tobias Johannessen last year after a monstrous raid in the final stage where he attacked alone with 70 kilometers to go and gained almost two minutes over the closest competitors, but missing the race win by just a mere 7 seconds.

His goals for the season remain a mystery reserved within the team, however if there is anything to take from this race is that the team has an extra card to play in the stage-races.