The Portuguese cyclist, who made his Tour de France debut, stated that “the top 20 places were not objective”.
“The story doesn’t end here,” promised Rben Guerreiro, after becoming the seventh Portuguese cyclist to finish in the top 20 in the Tour de France, and choosing the moment to reach Campos Elísios as his best debut.
“It wasn’t the top 20. The goal was to take Rigobertweran to the podium,” he began, recalling Lusa’s remarks, referring to his EF Education-Nippo captain, “a great runner” who was “bad” and ended up in 10th overall.
For the young man from Pegões Velhos (Setúbal), his 18th place, right on his debut in the world’s greatest sprint race, was “the sum of the days he tried to escape and [os outros em que] I tried to be with Rigo.”
“It’s not a bad thing, I’m proud, but I don’t think that story ends here. I’m 27 years old, I’ve started cycling relatively recently, and I think I have everything to improve, and who knows one day, I can do a Top 10 prediction.”
Highlighting the “very high” level of runners at the 108th Tour de France, Ruben Guerrero was “happy” with his performance “after very difficult times”, which followed the withdrawal from the Tour of Italy, due to a fall on the 15th stage, which left him injured. Two rib fractures.
“The Giro was my goal and I was a little sad that I dropped out like that, because I was so focused last week. It was really hard to stay focused for a month on the Tour, because in cycling the level is so high They were here the best in the world. And it turns out. It is a very positive performance”, evaluating the person who was the first Portuguese to win a secondary jersey in a great tour, as the ‘King of the Mountain’ in the Giro 2020.
Among the memories that gave him his first Tour appearance, the moment the Portuguese will never forget at EF Education-Nippo is precisely the end of the final stage of this edition, which today dedicated Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE) to be the youngest in Paris race champion.
“The best moment I think was today, being able to get to the Champs-Elysees and leaving Magnus Cort Nielsen in good shape. I love helping my teammates and it was really a very beautiful moment, after 21 days of battle. I can only do my work in the mountains and that was really fun I will always remember that I entered the last kilometer of Campos Elísios in front of the peloton,” he told Lusa.
Giro’2020 stage winner, Guerreiro only regrets having a “gap” in his participation, allowing him to succeed Rui Costa, Jose Azevedo, Jose Martins, Fernando Mendes, Joaquim Agostinho and Alves Barbosa, the other Portuguese to wrap up a round in the top 20.
“Of course I missed the stage, but it wasn’t because of a lack of trying. I’ve always tried, but that’s a very high level. It wasn’t this year, but I think I’ll do it someday. I’ll always fight for it and maybe one day I’ll wake up in the Tour de France. “.
