Oscar Pereiro has been struggling with his motivation ever since he had a bad crash on the 15th stage of the 2008 Tour de France, but the Spanish rider has said that he is now fully focussed and working well.
“It’s been years since I trained so hard,” he said in a blog entry on his website www.kecprosport.com/deportistas/oscar-pereiro.
The 32 year old had contemplated retirement after a disappointing year with the Caisse d’Epargne squad but, after an initial dispute over a signing he had made with Astana, he and the team confirmed that he would be racing with them in 2010. His goal is to support Alberto Contador as he aims to win his third Tour and, with many of the big name riders leaving for RadioShack, he is aware that he will play a very important role.
This challenge has given him renewed motivation and he embraces the chance for a fresh start.
“My website is renovated for many reasons,” he said in his first blog entry. “Obviously, the first is my change of team. I’m leaving Caisse with sadness, but to be in Astana with a such an ambitious project and especially with Albert as the leader...I don’t know what to say!
“The truth is that this opportunity has fuelled dreams, a motivation for the bike, to wage war in the races…but mainly the motivation that all sportsman needs to be focussed and with the desire to work at one hundred percent. With all these factors, that’s why I believe that it will be a very good year, professionally. It’s been years since I have trained with such determination.”
The 2006 Tour winner is happy to get his season underway early, and will have several months of racing to help him reach the highest-possible level of form. He’ll get started in less than ten days.
“To get started, I will go to Australia next Sunday to race the Tour Down Under. I won’t be under pressure, but it is a good race to sharpen my form.”
Providing he can get back to the condition that saw him finish in the top ten of the Tour on four different occasions, he will be an extremely important lieutenant for Contador this summer.