“I can now ride for five hours without pain” - Former Giro d'Italia mountains winner targets comeback

Ruben Guerreiro knows better than most what the Axeon pathway can lead to. The Portuguese climber spent the 2015 and 2016 seasons with the American development team, then known as Axeon Cycling Team and Hagens Berman Axeon, before making the jump to the WorldTour with Trek-Segafredo in 2017. Axeon has built a reputation for developing young riders capable of making that step, and Guerreiro became one of its successful alumni.

His career subsequently took him to Katusha-Alpecin, EF Education-EasyPost and Movistar Team. In 2020, he produced the finest season of his career, winning a stage of the Giro d’Italia and the mountains classification.

Now, at 32, Guerreiro is facing a very different challenge: trying to get his body ready to race again. The Portuguese rider has spent the past two years dealing with persistent problems in his back and neck. Speaking to Rádio Renascença, he explained how an injury that initially appeared manageable gradually became a problem capable of bringing his professional career to a standstill.

"At the time, we couldn't stop. I started having a very sharp pain in my back while preparing for the Giro d'Italia, and my neck became completely locked." The episode forced him to leave an altitude training camp and return home. Guerreiro says the recovery process was also affected by a lack of communication and specialist follow-up.

"There was a failure in communication during the recovery process, I wasn't monitored by specialists and I sought help from the federation. One of Portugal's three major clubs also helped me, but the problem was never resolved," he says.

The problems followed him into 2025, his final season with Movistar. Even when he managed to reach a good level of fitness, the slightest accumulation of fatigue or a crash could trigger the same symptoms.

"I still managed to get into good physical shape, but at the first sign of fatigue or after a crash, my neck would lock up, I couldn't turn it. I couldn't sleep, I would go home again. In the last races of last year, I couldn't even cycle ten kilometres."

For a professional cyclist, it was an increasingly difficult cycle to escape: build fitness, suffer a setback, lose the ability to train, recover and start again.

A year later, Guerreiro is finally beginning to recover some of the rhythm that had disappeared from his life. "I can now ride almost every day, but after many hours I still have a lot of pain in my cervical spine."

His training is now about rebuilding his body as much as improving his fitness. Cycling has been combined with mobility work, swimming and strength training as he tries to make his neck and back capable of absorbing the demands of professional racing again.

"I'm cycling four or five times a week. I do a lot of mobility work, swimming and gym work to strengthen the muscles and prevent the inflammation points from flaring up. It's been a struggle, but I hope to have a normal winter so that, who knows, I can compete next year," he says.

The physical problems have already cost him opportunities. Guerreiro revealed that he came close to joining NSN Cycling Team in July 2025. The deal ultimately fell through because of his physical condition. Other ProContinental teams, as well as Portuguese teams, also showed interest.

"We had an in-depth meeting with NSN and I was close to signing with them in July [2025], but it didn't happen because of the physical issues. I had ProContinental teams interested, and the Portuguese teams also asked, but I told my agent that I couldn't even train," he reveals.

Eventually, Guerreiro decided that the only honest option was to step away from the search for a team. "My body told me to stop. I spoke to some teams, but in September I told the people representing me to forget about it. I couldn't be a cyclist and I wasn't going to commit to anyone," he says.

That decision has left his future uncertain. The modern peloton is increasingly dominated by riders making their breakthrough in their early twenties, while teams are investing heavily in young talent.

For Guerreiro, who is now 32 and has already spent years at WorldTour level, returning to the top tier of the sport would be a difficult proposition even without the physical problems. "It's almost impossible, also because of my age, because the teams are signing very young kids."

Yet Guerreiro is not closing the door on racing. For now, the goal is simply to get through a full winter without his body breaking down. If he can train consistently, build strength and eventually tolerate the long hours required at professional level, the possibility of racing again remains alive.

The road back is very different from the one he travelled a decade ago with Axeon, when the next step was obvious and the WorldTour was waiting.

This time, there is no guarantee of what comes next. But after two years in which even ten kilometres could become impossible, being able to ride four or five times a week is already the first sign that Guerreiro may finally be moving forward again.