Another highlight in the 36-year-old’s successful career
Portuguese cyclist Rui Costa pulled off an amazing victory in Stage 15 of the ‘Vuelta a España’ on Sunday.
The 36-year-old Intermarche-Circus-Wanty rider finished ahead of Lennard Kämna and Santiago Buitrago and crossed the line at Lekunberri in first place.
Costa, a 2013 UCI Road World Championships champion and considered by many to be the best Portuguese cyclist ever, admitted that he did not wake up on Sunday feeling very optimistic.
“These were very tough days, with a lot of mountains. The toughness was felt. Today (Sunday), I left somewhat pensive, not very motivated, because the last two days hadn’t gone my way,” he said after the race.
“The stage had been one that I had targeted for a good result. It’s true that it wasn’t easy to get into the right breakaway because there were many attempts. It wasn’t easy, but the fact that I always believed things could go well helped. And in the first kilometers, the sensations even surprised me. It took a long time to make the breakaway, about 70 kilometers. I had worn myself out until then because I was very eager to get into the break. Many times, you only see the end result and don’t know what an athlete goes through to get into the break,” he said.
“The breakaway happened on that mountain, and when it did, there were strong riders who had already won, like Remco (Evenepoel) and (Lennard) Kamna. I knew it was going to be a tough day to get the victory, but the important thing was to be in the breakaway and achieve a good result. Winning never crossed my mind because even on the first pass through the circuit, I noticed that Buitrago seemed very strong. I had noticed that he was the rider to watch. I didn’t know if I had the legs to follow him. In the last kilometers, a Bora rider attacked, I didn’t hesitate and followed, because I felt it was probably the key to the day. I had to gain time on the climb because I knew that when they started chasing behind, there would be damage. That was the plan,” Costa added.
“It wasn’t easy to follow Buitrago; he tried everything to drop me on the climb because he knew that in a sprint, it’s more uncertain whether he could win or not. It was a battle to stay on his wheel. When Kamna joined, it wasn’t easy because both of them wanted to arrive at the finish line alone, they didn’t want me for the sprint. But the truth is that the fastest doesn’t always win; it always depends on the physical condition when you reach the finish line. Fatigue was important; we all arrived exhausted. But after so much suffering, believing that victory was possible, achieving it was very important for my motivation and for my team because it was something we had been searching for a long time,” he concluded.
The final stage of Vuelta a España will take place on Tuesday, September 12.
