“You’re waiting for the moment when he’s going to attack and then... try to survive”: Newly crowned Spanish champion admits the peloton has no answer for Pogacar

Pablo Castrillo heads into the Tour de France with renewed confidence after claiming his first victory for Movistar Team at the Spanish time trial national championships. The Spanish rider admitted the wait for success had weighed on him, so winning almost 2 years later took a massive weight off his shoulders.

Castrillo described his first victory with Movistar as an emotional milestone after a rather disappointing 2025 season in terms of results. “I’m still processing everything that has happened. In the end, there have been so many emotions. Winning here, at home, with Movistar, after searching for it for such a long time... As I’ve said many times and will keep saying, this victory is dedicated to my family, to all those people who are always with me, supporting me. It’s for them,” Castrillo told Marca.

The Spaniard acknowledged that expectations following his breakthrough performances at the 2024 Vuelta a España made the wait for victory particularly challenging.

“Especially last year. In the end, you have high expectations after what you did at La Vuelta. There are moments when you feel overwhelmed, wondering when it will come or if it will come at all. But especially over these last few months, I’ve learned that you have to live day by day, keep progressing and not become obsessed with it, because I don’t think that gets you anywhere. I was also looking for that victory at home, trying to win, and in the end the victory arrived.”

Despite being compared to some of cycling's biggest names, Castrillo insists he remains focused on his own development. “In the end, you focus on yourself, on improving day by day. And the road puts everyone in their place. Cycling is like that. There are months when you’re at the top and everything goes well, and others when you’re injured or going through difficult moments. Cycling changes from one moment to the next without you expecting it.”

Although Castrillo currently sees himself as a rider targeting individual stages, he is not ruling out fighting for overall classifications later in his career. “You never know. In the end, I still hopefully have many years of my career ahead of me. Right now I see myself as a stage hunter and in the future, who knows. I still need to ride many Grand Tours before I can find out.”

For this year's Tour de France, his ambitions are clear. “The truth is that I feel pretty good. Hopefully I can win one stage. I’ve always dreamed of it and there are many opportunities, especially in those first two weeks where we have good chances to fight for a stage.”

At the same time, he expects Movistar to balance stage hunting with supporting Cian Uijtdebroeks' overall ambitions. “Both things. We have a good team to go for breakaways and then there’s Cian, who arrives in good form. We’ll support him so he can achieve a good general classification.”

Castrillo also admitted that increasingly high temperatures are becoming a growing concern in professional cycling, suggesting race organisers may eventually need to reconsider start times.

“It’s always complicated. In the end, you have to find a middle ground between a good start time, and I understand that television wants the best schedule because of the number of viewers. In that sense it’s difficult. But yes, it’s something that should be reconsidered. For example, this year the times we’ll be racing will be a bit dangerous because it’s very hot and we race at a very high intensity. I know it’s difficult for everyone to reach an agreement.”

Asked how anyone can stop Tadej Pogacar, Castrillo admitted he does not have the answer. “I can’t say much about that. In the end, he’s the best rider of his generation and we’re all seeing it. It’s difficult to stop him. From my perspective, you’re waiting for the moment when he’s going to attack and then... try to survive.”