David de la Cruz (32 years old) is contesting this Vuelta his, in almost all probability, last days in the ranks of UAE Team Emirates. “It is very difficult to continue,” he acknowledges in AS. The Catalan, who is in his second season in the squad, is his team’s trump card for the general classification. He was well placed in the standings on the rest day, and only a breakdown at Picón Blanco made him lose time considerably with the rest of the favorites. “I am feeling very good. I only yielded clearly in Burgos, and it was due to a bicycle problem“, the Mint. In the stage ending in Rincón de la Victoria, he was overtaken by runners from the breakaway, and is now 13th (2nd Spanish after Mas), 6:49 behind the surprising leader Eiking and just over four minutes behind Roglic.
Pogacar, after winning the Tour, had in mind to be in La Vuelta, but finally did not go to the Spanish round due to accumulated fatigue. In that moment, De la Cruz knew his role. “I finished 7th overall on two occasions (2016 and 2020), and now I want to take a step forward. Finishing in the top-five would be great news, it’s my goal, or one of them. The team’s challenges, even so, are open: possible escapes, fly-ins with Molano and Trentin, and general with me ”, he details. For now, and going from less to more, the Catalan is not marked beyond the next stage. “We have to see day by day how the body reacts.”
And, unlike many of his rivals, De la Cruz does not arrive at this Vuelta with a heavy calendar load on his legs. “I had focused all my preparation to be on the Tour, and finally the team did not take me. It was hard. So, I had to reset and recalculate the goals for the season. Since then, I only thought about La Vuelta ”. Runners like Mas, Roglic and Superman López, among others, were in the French round. “Arriving with fewer days of competition can work in my favor, because some days maybe I lack rhythm, but facing the final week I will arrive fresher, or so I hope ”.
With the season nearing the end, De la Cruz looks, for now from the corner of his eye, to his future. “Right now I’m focused on La Vuelta, but my representative is handling offers. I still don’t know which team I will race for next year, but here I will leave a large group of friends, regardless of the results ”. In this way, it seems more than likely that he will stop being a teammate of one of the best in the squad, Tadej Pogacar. “It is an out of series, and in the 2020 Tour (the first of the Slovenian) I enjoyed a lot. Also in the Sky and in the Quick-Step you can share equipment with other great stars. It is enriching ”. De la Cruz will fight these two weeks to leave, if nothing changes, with a good taste in his mouth.