Rigoberto Uran has on two different occasions, come really close to winning the Giro d’Italia.
However, this time around he would be skipping the familiar roads of Italy and make a return to the Tour de France this summer for no more than the fourth time in his decade-long career.
With his return to the Tour, a space would be opening up for him to make a return to the favorable hilly terrain of the Ardennes for the first time since 2013. The veteran Colombian who spoke recently noted that a lot was being changed and this year, he and the team would be trying something different.
“We are changing a lot,” Urán said.
“I believe changes are important, and this year we are going to try something different. We’ll focus more on the classics. [I] won’t go to the Giro after many years in order to prepare well for the Ardennes,” he added.
Last year, the rider had tall dreams of winning both an Olympic Gold medal and the Giro both he finished empty in both races. In the Giro, he ended at seventh, while at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, he ended up a DNF.
By next week, he would be clocking 31 years old, and with a professional career that dates back to 2006. He sure knows that to stay on top of his game, he needs to show off some pretty big performances.
He’s been one rider that comes quite close to big wins, and at the London Olympics in 2012, he ended up behind Alexander Vinokourov. So far, he only boasts of eight victories on his palmares and is hoping to increase that number in no distant time.
Uran surely knows more victories are the most necessary things, and he would be working harder and trainer hard as well to achieve them.