Oscar Pereiro (Mos, 1977), winner of the 2006 Tour de France and ambassador of La Vuelta a España, is considered the Spanish cyclist Enrique Morewho did not make a good gala round, needs to refrain from comments about him and clear his mind to enjoy the bike ride.
“Enric Mas has to care what they say about him”, Pereiro’s remarks in an interview with EFE that took place at the foot of the mountain of Montjuic (Barcelona) after a bicycle ride to the castle where the former Galician cyclist recalled his experiences as a professional in that area in the Tour de France, the Vuelta a España and the Volta a Catalunya.
“I hope that Enric Mas can turn the situation around, that the blockage that prevented him from performing in the Tour de France (he ended up withdrawing due to the coronavirus) can clean it up these days and gain confidence,” continued Pereiro .
“If people want Enric to go the other way, I hope it goes one way and the other.. You need to do mental cleaning,” he insisted.
The 27-year-old Majorcan Movistar cyclist admitted after the Tour de France, where he intends to fight for the podium, that one of his problems is the fear that he will ride downhill after suffering a significant fall. Pereiro knows exactly what it’s like after the serious fall he suffered on Col Agnel during the 2008 Tour de France.
“His fear of going down is very important, and it was said by someone who suffered the same thing, but I think his fear is more.. You can’t push yourself any harder than before. It saddens me to see the criticism of him on Twitter, he has to try to overcome all this,” Pereiro believes.
In any case, the former cyclist considers that the great favorite to take the final victory in this Vuelta a España is the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), the winner of the last three editions, if he recovers in time from with the injury sustained in the Tour de France. “When there is a runner who dominates the race like him, I always favor him,” he said.
In this sense, he explained that “Roglic knows how to win it in different ways”. Last year, for example, “if you analyze it, he won thanks to the bonuses because in heads-up play he was not better than the others.”
Although Pereiro does not rule out that the final joy in Madrid could be taken by someone else. “There are many contenders. The winner of the Giro, Jay Hindley (Bora-Transgohe), will be here. And we have Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorius), Enric Mas, Richard Carapaz (INEOS), the participation is going to be brutal” said he.
About the absence of Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (Team Emirates), two-time winner of the Tour de France and second place in the recently contested, Pereiro said that land “I wish he was wounded here, knowing that he needs to fly and regain trustprove you can beat anyone”.
In addition, he believes that the victory of Danish Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) in an epic Tour de France “surprised everyone because he was expected to win again in Pogacar”.
But he points out that “this is not the surprise of the century” and that “the most remarkable thing is that Pogacar met a runner who was faster than him.”
This edition of La Vuelta a España will also have the great incentive of seeing Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) for the last time in a Grand Tour.
“There will be before and after Valverde. He was a racer who pulled chestnuts out of the fire, he was the last remaining racer of a generation that won many important races. Now the responsibility belongs to someone else, it is not yours. He just needs to enjoy it. We will miss him a lot,” Pereiro admitted of the 42-year-old cyclist.
In addition to being an ambassador for La Vuelta, Pereiro is also an ambassador for Ecovidrio, the non-profit entity that manages the recycling of waste glass containers in Spain, working for the sustainability of the event in cycling for seven years. .
“Every year we aim to make La Vuelta the most sustainable in history”, sentence Pereiro. “All trophies on the podium will be made of recycled glass from the city where the stage arrives or departs” and “the ‘Green Squad’ will oversee the collection of fans’ trash on the mountain stages”, among others steps.
Source: La Verdad
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
