"I'm clear about my objectives" - Movistar's new star wants Tour de France debut

Pablo Castrillo has landed in Movistar Team after an extraordinary Vuelta a España in which he won 2 stages. He has already impressed in his first few days with the Spanish team at the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana specially and is eager to race the Tour de France later this year.

"They gave me a lot of joy and I learned a lot as a person and as a cyclist. I owe them that respect and admiration. I am the cyclist I am thanks to Kern Pharma, for their commitment to the youth," he said of his former team in an interview with Mundo Deportivo.

About his calendar, he explains that he will race the UAE Tour and Paris-Nice and that he hopes to be in the next Tour de France: "It's quite attractive. All the races will be World Tour races except the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. It's a calendar that suits me well and I'm sure I'll learn a lot. After Valencia, UAE is a race that catches my attention and can be good for me. Then Paris-Nice, a complicated race from which I can learn a lot. I'm already looking forward to making my debut in them and I hope to make my debut in the Tour de France".

Nothing goes to his head despite having become one of the sensations of Spanish cycling in his own right: "I try to take it like I did before I won the two stages of La Vuelta. In the end, you have to keep working. With this kind of comments they put pressure on you, but I put enough pressure on myself. I'm clear about my objectives. If they put me as a promise, that's fine with me, but I have to keep working, do the best I can and enjoy the process".

He hopes that Alejandro Valverde will call him for the next World Championships: "I hope so! We'll see, it would be like in the last World Championships in Switzerland, when I was called up and I enjoyed it a lot. Then it was already a prize for me".

He talks about his references, his childhood idols and the current peloton rider he most admires: "When I started my references were Valverde, Contador and 'Purito' (Joaquim Rodríguez, ed.). And when you get closer to the pros you look at people like [Wout] Van Aert. For me, he is an example to follow because of the way he rides. I like the way he puts on a show and his versatility".

To Mundo Deportivo's question about what kind of rider he sees himself as, he answers more from the point of view of what kind of rider he would like to be:

"I still have to figure it out. Climbing is something I've always liked and the time trial I've always liked too, but it's clear to me that I have to get better at being competitive in them."