"You start to think about whether all this is worth it" - Pello Bilbao on the passing of teammate Gino Mäder

Pello Bilbao gave an interview to AS newspaper colleagues at the Singapore Criterium where he talked about his extraordinary 2023 season, where he highlights above all his victory in the Tour de France.

It has not been an easy year for the Bahrain Victorious riders due to the death of Gino Mäder and he talks about its influence on his performance in the Tour. He concludes by making it clear that the Grande Boucle will again be his big goal in 2024, although he hopes to ride the Vuelta a España to win a stage (he has already done so in the other two majors).

"I've had years with more regularity or, rather, getting more results, but simply the Tour victory is worth many more than others I've achieved. In Australia I also started the year winning and maybe I lacked a win in the final part of the season to round off the year, but I can't ask for much more".

"It was very hard... during the following weeks you start to think about whether all this is worth it, but in the end it also makes us realize the value of life. When these misfortunes happen to you, and for me it wasn't the first time, you realize how fragile we are, that our sport carries a lot of risk, but we had to recover".

"To a large extent everything I achieved (sixth overall and stage victory) was thanks to him. Many times you need a special motivation, and a misfortune of such magnitude makes you draw strength that you didn't even know you had. I didn't even feel like training when he died, but I turned it around and turned that anger into getting the best out of myself. I rode the Tour with very deep emotions, and after 13 years as a professional maybe you tend to take a race as if it were any other, but in this Tour everything was different for me".

"I'm at my point of full maturity, the optimum. Going further up is complicated, but it is the intention, and in the end the small details can give you a big gain. Year by year I've been improving somewhat and that will be the mentality until my last year as a professional."

"Well, a nice one would be to win the triplet of stages in Grand Tours, because it puts you in a club that is, let's say, exclusive. Where I need to win is in La Vuelta, and the truth is that it's a race that I haven't given opportunities in recent years because it didn't fit well in my calendar. I'd like to give it a try.

"The priority will be to be in the Tour, and depending on how the season goes and it depends on how the objectives go as well, we can see if we face that challenge."

"I don't know... A priority, three places for Spain are few. It would be necessary to evaluate if the course is really favorable, because there may be riders with profiles more suitable for it and in my case the World Championships is more suitable. I do not see that it is worth changing the whole approach of the season to be in the Olympic Games. If they think that my option is the best, then we'll talk about it".

Article written by Juan Larra