Óscar Pereiro is currently at home, resting his tired legs after the Volta a Catalunya. The Astana rider, who was on the brink of retirement already, is quite happy about his racing this season thus far. In Catalunya he finished in the top 20.
“I am very content,” he said from his house. “Happy is the word that best describes how I feel.” Pereiro felt strong in the one-week stage race in his home country. “I did a race where I always went from the back to the front, riding with the best every day and I still had the power to attack in the very tough moments of the race.”
He did have the regret that he couldn’t hang on in the Queen stage to La Seu d’Urgell, when he attacked the front group together with Purito Rodríguez and Xavi Tondo. Pereiro was unable to follow the other two. “That was a pity. Without the cramps, I could have fought against Tondo for the stage win and against Purito for the overall. But that [cramps] happened after I gave it all in a stage with 3,000m of elevation change for the first time in a while.”
Despite the small setback Pereiro remained upbeat. “I see the good thing about that – who would have told me a couple of months ago that I’d be going head to head against the best in the world in such a high-level race!”
This winter, Pereiro had some trouble finding a new team, after the split with Caisse d’Epargne. When he already mused about retiring, Astana came to the rescue in the 11th hour.
Pereiro will take a few more days of rest, then continue his preparation for the Vuelta a Castilla y León. “This one gives me a special motivation, as it finishes in my region. Because the Vuelta a Galicia won’t happen this year, I want to take advantage of the fact that Castilla y León finishes in Santiago de Compostela.”