Ruben Guerreiro previews the Tour Down Under and admits he's not in the best shape: "For my part, I recognize that due to the recovery from the collarbone fracture I should be at 70 percent"

Ruben Guerreiro will be one of the Movistar Team's main bets in the Tour Down Under, which starts this Tuesday. The Portuguese rider is entering his 8th consecutive season in the World Tour and has a contract until 2025. It's the fourth time he's raced in Australia's premier cycling event.

In an interview with the newspaper "A Bola", the cyclist from Pegões admitted that he has ambitions to fight for the podium at the Tour Down Under, but stressed that a place in the top 10 would already be a good result. As for being Movistar's leader for the race, Ruben rejects the status and admits that he's not yet in his best shape.

"We can't say I'm the front-runner, in modern cycling that only happens in the grand tours, I'm in Australia as a strong bet for the team, which also has Gonzalo Serrano to fight for the overall, he's in a good moment of form. For my part, I recognize that due to the recovery from the collarbone fracture I should be at 70 percent, I've been training well but competing is quite different," says Guerreiro.

The Portuguese rider from Movistar analyzed the course of the Australian race, which he classifies as one of the toughest in recent years. "The last two stages, with those two uphill finishes, fit my characteristics, it's going to be important to work as a team as long as I can stay with the frontrunners in the previous days. Because of the difficulties in the last few stages, I expect it to be a very tactical race so that there aren't any big differences when it comes down to it."

Ruben Guerreiro also highlighted the potentially slippery road on stage 1 and the uphill finish on stage 2 in Stirling. The Portuguese rider was asked about his schedule and admitted that it will change as the team aims to accumulate as many UCI points as possible.

"After the Tour Down Under I'll be racing the Champion Figueira and two days later the Volta a Andalucía with Nelson Oliveira. Before the Ardennes Classics it's possible that I'll race the Gran Camiño again, but I haven't had confirmation yet, after coming third in 2023 behind Vingegaard and Herrada."

Asked by the newspaper if he will be present at the National Championships, Guerreiro says that he will do everything in his power to be there, since the Nationals and the Figueira Champions Classic end up being the only chances he has to race in Portugal.