Orluis Aular, who recently arrived in France to participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, aims to be among the top ranked in the men’s road cycling event that will take place this Saturday.
The great universal event, which will bring together the elite of calapedismo, will represent a real challenge because it will be necessary to be smart in managing energy during a 273 kilometer (km) route, to have a chance to fight to obtain a medal unprecedented for the country in this specialty.
“I came to Paris with the same enthusiasm, with the same desire to do well. Now I have more experience, because year after year I am improving,” said the Yaracuy native in a conversation with Aloys Marín, a journalist from the Venezuelan Olympic Committee (COV).
The present of the athlete
Aular, 27 years old, arrived in the City of Light with the aura of being one of the main cyclists of the Caja Rural-RGA Seguros team of Spain, something that allowed him to rub shoulders with the great cyclists of Europe, some of whom will be his rivals on August 3.
He hopes that the experience gained on the old continent will be the key to success in an event in which the notable absentee will be the Slovenian Tadej Pogačar, winner of both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the 2024 season and a great figure in the most demanding tournaments of the International Cycling Union (UCI).
The Creole thinks he can have an impact in Paris 2024. “I feel like I’m taking a step forward every year and, at the same time, I’m earning the respect of the peloton, which is very important in cycling (…) We will try to find the best wheel to give our best at the Olympic Games and represent Venezuela very well,” he added.
The Venezuelan’s achievements
Aular arrives in Paris with the endorsement of having won a gold medal at the South American Games in Asunción 2022 and a yellow medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador 2023.
He hopes to excel on French soil, as he believes he has the maturity and skill with the handlebars to be in the leading group. He indicated that he prepared very intensively since he took part in the Tokyo 2020 route, contested in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in which he did not stand out due to physical problems, which prevented him from finishing a race that he led for several passages. He retired due to exhaustion with 40 km to go. Now he will seek his revenge with a well-defined strategy.
“I’m going to try to change the way I race. In Tokyo we tried to go in the breakaway, to let ourselves be seen and to let the tricolor be seen throughout the race. Now we want to save energy to see that we can do it at the end of the competition as well,” he concluded.
Valencia / Joseph Ñambre
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2024-08-04 16:38:57
