Rui Oliveira key part of UAE's leadout at Giro d'Italia but knows what the focus is: "We know he can win the Giro, and that's the main goal"

Rui Oliveira sets off this Saturday for his second Giro d'Italia and fifth Grand Tour. The 27-year-old Portuguese rider races into the Giro with two missions: to help Juan Sebastián Molano win a stage and Tadej Pogacar win the general classification.

"Before we go for the sprint, maybe every stage we'll have to safeguard Tadej. That's the main objective and we're all aware of that. Maybe there will be days when it will be difficult to even go to the sprint to help Molano, because I'll have to play other roles. He [Pogacar] is number one, we know he can win the Giro, and that's the main goal," said Rui, speaking to Agência Lusa.

Rui Oliveira dismisses the fact that the race has less value due to the absence of names like Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel; highlighting names like Geraint Thomas and Ben O'Connor to point out that Pogacar's final victory is not guaranteed. He also ruled out individual objectives for this Giro.

"If Molano wins, for me my goal will be fulfilled - my goal for the team. They don't expect me to win this Giro, but you never know what can happen, it's a very chaotic race. Obviously, if there's a day when I can do well and the team has confidence, without losing focus on Tadej and Molano's goal, why not give it a go? But that will depend a lot on my legs, on my competitive rhythm"

Recently, Oliveira trained for almost three weeks with Molano in Colombia to prepare for the Corsa Rosa's sprints:

"It was important because we were able to work on technical aspects, sprinting and launching, which you can only fine-tune by being together, and we're really confident about what's to come. I think it's going to be a good Giro for us"

This is Rui Oliveira's first race since his crash at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, in which he fractured his left radius (on the wrist) and missed the entire spring classics season.

"I've worked really hard since my crash - perhaps like never before - to get in really good shape. Coming from Colombia, these first few days I'm feeling really good on the bike. I foresee good things, but only the road and the kilometers will tell what can happen."

Rui Oliveira will be the only Portuguese rider in the Giro d'Italia, a sensation he admits is strange to him.

"Of course I'd like to have all the Portuguese here who race abroad and can do the grand tours, but [they] have other goals, and rightly so. It's always a shame, because when you have quieter days, you like to talk to the Portuguese - I particularly like to know how they're doing and how everything is going. It's going to be a miss in the peloton to hear Portuguese spoken"

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Uma publicação partilhada por Rui Oliveira (@roliveira57)