Three-time World Champion a non-factor in Stage 2, hopeful for the final six weeks of racing in 2010
Three-time World Champion, Oscar Freire, is doing his best to regain the form that has made him a man of the Rainbow Jersey. The Spaniard is still recovering from sinus surgery, but has said that he hopes to be a factor this month in his home tour.
The first road stage to the slightly cooler coast of summer heated Spain did not prove to be ideal for the explosive sprinter from Cantabria - he finished well down in 101st.
"It was a stage where I knew it was going to be easy to get to sprint, but with this heat, it was tough, and I'm not at my best at this time. I just had my sinusitis operation, so when you're not at your best, it's best not to risk it and thus prevent any possible falls," said the 34 year old Spaniard after the race to EuropaPress.es.
In amusing, but not surprising, fashion, the 34 year old fastman, admitted to not having ever heard of today's winner in Marbella, Yauheni Hutarovich.
"The winner surprised me. I don't know, I have never even heard his name, but we must watch him now because he just beat on the best sprinters right now in Cavendish."
Finishing well down on the first stage will come as no surprise to Freire though. A few days ago in a conversation with AS, he accepted that the going would be tough early on.
"I was told after surgery that I would recover in two weeks, but I've found that this period is for people who are not athletes, because I'm not yet quite recovered," said Freire in a conversation with AS in the days leading up to the Vuelta. "The first week has come too early for me. I am not accustomed to the heat, and it is bothering my breathing. But yes, I'll try to do something as the days pass and I gain confidence, even if the problem is that in view of the route, there will not be many opportunities."
While he's not quite at his best yet, like everyone else present in Spain for the next three weeks of arduous racing, he has time to carefully carve out the form necessary for a possible fourth World Championship. If one rider had to be picked as a solid bet on the course that no one is sure about, Freire would surely be up there as a distinct possibility. Freire has made a career of prospering on difficult World Championship-like courses, whether it be in the actual race or in his three wins at La Primavera.
"I've accumulated six wins [so far in 2010]. I do not know if I'll be the top Spaniard for number of wins, but mostly, I won my third Milan-Sanremo. Not bad, huh? I'm still going to compete in the Vuelta, Paris-Tours, and the Worlds. For Australia, I hope to achieve my best form, or at least try to get there. It's cycling, in one second everything can chance, but I am well and every time I've taken a challenge, I've answered."
If Freire's recovery from surgery continues at a reasonable pace and the Vuelta passes without a hitch, we could be talking about the great 2010 campaign of the diminutive sprinter in just over a month's time.