EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW | Mikel Bizkarra will try to give joy to Euskaltel - Euskadi at 2024 Vuelta a Espana: "We can have opportunities"

CyclingUpToDate is on the ground at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana and our very own Rúben Silva has chatted before the start of the second stage in Cascais with veteran Mikel Bizkarra, one of the great hopes of Euskaltel-Euskadi in the team's home Grand Tour.

Bizkarra is no stranger to the brutal Portuguese heat that is cooking the beginning of this Vuelta. After all, very recently he competed at a high level in a Volta a Portugal in which he finished fifth overall and was close to the stage win in Covilha. "It was hard especially because of the heat, in Portugal in summer it's hot and there were eleven days, almost all of them were hot and it was hard, hopefully it will help us for the Vuelta, which is also going to be hot," he explains to us.

Bizkarra, who has spent almost his entire career with Euskaltel and who is in his 5th career Vuelta a Espana, hopes to be able to perform at a good level, among other things because of the kilometres ridden in the Volta a Portugal, which ended on August 4: "It was as preparation and it was also an objective, it's a race that I like, hard, I wanted to do my best and that it will help us in the Vuelta a España."

Asked if he has any stage marked with an 'x', he replied that no, he knows that there are many hard days in which they will try to fight to have their chances and to be in the fight. "It is very difficult, there are many hard stages, if I am well we can have opportunities, it is very difficult, we will see day by day to see if the forces accompany and we can be in the fight in some," he explains.

It has not been an easy year for Euskaltel Euskadi, which needs to score well in the Vuelta to improve positions in the UCI classification so that next year it can be taken into account again by the organization of the Vuelta a España to be invited.