Are you ready for the final Grand Tour of 2024!? We are 😈 See you in Lisbon, @lavuelta! Read all about our squad's Vuelta goals: efprocycling.com/racing/richard…
INTERVIEW | Rui Costa on ambitions for Vuelta a Espana, Portugal's Olympic Gold and hopes on João Almeida
CyclingThursday, 15 August 2024 at 17:43
Rui Costa is starting his 18th Grand Tour and he reveals that his main ambitions will be to support EF Education-EasyPost's pursuit of the red jersey with Richard Carapaz. Costa is one of the three Portuguese riders having a home start at this Vuelta, something that is happening for the first time in his 18-year long career.
"The main objective, as I said before, is to be with Richard Carapaz and give our all. If an opportunity arises Rigoberto [Urán], myself and other teammates who are here are focused and can win a stage," the veteran told CyclingUpToDate in a pre-race press conference. "When we are working for others, we always give more of ourselves. When that is not the case, we sometimes slow down for two days. But when we have a [collective] goal, it is sometimes difficult to set a personal goal, and that means that sometimes an opportunity arises, but we cannot always do it that way. We will focus on helping Richard."
The Ecuadorian had a strong Tour de France but in the high mountains he lacked over the opening week of the race. In the yellow jersey after stage 3, he made history for his country but lost it the following day. However he bounced back in form over the second half of the race and won a stage, alongside conquering the KOM classification. In Spain, he will aim for a result in the overall classification.
Costa's compatriot João Almeida starts off as one of the biggest favourites, and he believes the UAE Team Emirates rider may be able to win the first Grand Tour for the country. "I believe so. João has already shown that he is very strong in the Tour de France, where he finished fourth, in the fight for the podium, despite working for the team with Tadej Pogacar. He is one of the team leaders, like [Adam] Yates, and I believe he can do very well. João has everything he needs to finish on the podium in the Vuelta a España. That would have been difficult in the Tour, but I think it is possible here."
That would be history for Portugal, the country that hosts the foreign start in this race, and would come right after another bit of history as Portugal just achieved it's first gold medal in cycling with Rui Oliveira and Iuri Leitão at the men's Madison. This has been a massive topic in the country and has increased the attention in this race.
"It was a spectacular gold medal. I believe it will be valuable for the whole sport. It was a truly historic moment. Both Iuri and Rui achieved something historic in cycling today, something that is an asset for all of us, for all those who are cyclists," he said.
"A boost for national cycling. I really hope that the federation continues to do a great job, that it can continue with Iuri and Rui with the goal of improving cycling, the conditions and believing that it is possible to continue with great achievements... It is a great, extraordinary achievement. They were confident that they could achieve a great result, and they brought home two gold medals, bringing joy to all those who follow because we are extremely proud. The truth is that it was an asset for cycling, believing that this achievement of theirs will bring positive things for the future," Costa concluded.
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- Thanks Dadmobk22-12-2024
- Hard to believe with the advancment of modern medicine he can not find a cause for this.frieders321-12-2024
- You continue to platform these two cheats. With that in mind I can no longer use your site. I know my leaving means little, but, sometimes you have to take a stand. See ya!DJ21-12-2024
- Look at what Froome’s won since his last TdF, stop denying there is still more than possible one outcome to the future.Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- Bruyneel understands nothing about clean competition.Sweep21-12-2024
- Exactly. Remco won 3 WT races/stages last year compared to Pogocar's 19. Remco's single stage win in last years TdF earned him a meager 12 seconds over Pogocar who shellac'd him by 9 minutes in GC.Sweep21-12-2024
- Fortunately and as you point out, more than one strategy is possible and worth trying and I’m sure all concerned riders are well informed and counselled on this subject and don’t need such basic personal advice through media from an outsider.Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- The main SPOTY award is "decided" by public vote but the BBC "expert panel" decide who you can choose from, that choice has an equal split of genders and is focussed on the sports BBC show and a disabled athlete. Oh yea the ubiquitous "Pub Games" candidate there too, Darts and Snooker are not sports. The other awards are decided by the "Expert Panel" again it's about the sports BBC show, cycling has had it. Cav got his for his years and achievements in the sport, not just that 35th TDF win. Unless the BBC get access to Pro Cycling it will never feature "adequately" on SPOTYslappers6621-12-2024
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- Avoiding him is a good strategy, you get more wins and then you can compete in the TDF relatively relaxed. Pit yourself against Pogi and not only there will be no wins, it will be considerable mental setbackabstractengineer21-12-2024