“Portugal is a very difficult place to race, not only because of the climbs, but also the riders” – Interview with Abner González
The Puerto Rican cyclist discusses his career, with emphasis on the Volta a Portugal that he did for Movistar, and José Azevedo analyzes his start of the season in EFAPEL Cycling.
Abner González is 23 years old and was born in Puerto Rico, a Caribbean island that is not exactly known for cycling, more for artists like Ricky Martin or Jennifer López. In fact, González is likely to be “the first professional cyclist in the history of Puerto Rico”, a title that puts a smile on his face. It was with the smile of someone who is ‘enjoying life’, as he fulfills his dream of being a professional cyclist, that Abner accepted our request for an interview, in December, with the expectation but still no guarantee that this his dream would take him to Portugal and EFAPEL Cycling.
With the national cycling season underway, Portuguese Cycling Magazine publishes Abner González’s interview, complemented by José Azevedo’s analysis of the performance of his team’s most recent signing, who has already achieved a 3rd place in the Volta ao Alentejo.
Photo: Abner González’s Facebook
How did you get into cycling? Did you have any references?
“In Puerto Rico we don’t have a big culture of cycling: if you’re a cyclist in Puerto Rico, you’re a weird guy (laughs). My brother used to ride the bike for fun, and I started riding with him to go to different places that we couldn’t go walking or by car. Close to my town, they used to do a race, it was big at the time, so my brother motivated me to go and see if I started being in cycling in a professional way. It’s crazy, because I didn’t knew anything about cycling, I knew I could pedal but nothing else (laughs). I did the race without any experience, but I won the race, and I started having the adrenaline and the emotion for the sport. From that day, I kept riding my bike and fighting for my dreams.”
After that first race, when did cycling become more serious to you?
“One year after that race, the national team picked me up for Caribbean Championships, I think in the Dominican Republic. It was my first race outside of Puerto Rico, and an international race. I got a bronze medal on the time-trial. When I realised I wasn’t just good in Puerto Rico, I was also good outside of Puerto Rico, I started dreaming ‘maybe this is my thing, I can do big things here and bring some hope to the island’. At that time, we didn’t have any professional cyclists. I’m the first pro cyclist in Puerto Rico history.”
After racing in the United States, you embarked on a Spanish amateur team. How was your adaptation to Europe? In terms of racing, what are the biggest differences?
“It was really hard. I raced in Europe in my first and second years of junior. I don’t know why, but in my last junior year, I couldn’t find a team for the following year. I was just a cyclist enjoying life, I was quite strong in Spain, but at the time I didn’t have any experience in negotiating with teams. I found a team in LA [Los Angeles] with a friend, so I lived in LA for a year and started racing in the US. It’s a whole different world from Europe, and cycling in the US is more explosive and like the Classics: if you’re the craziest in the peloton, you win races (laughs). Here it’s more timed, mental and with the team. When I moved again for my second season in U-23 in Europe, I hit the wall. Again, I had to learn how to move in the peloton, how to be aggressive in a more tactic way, not just be strong and attack, but to be thinking all the time. It was quite hard to readapt myself to European cycling.”
The word ‘enjoy’ is always present in your speech. Would you say that it is your personal motto in cycling?
“It’s my personal thing in life, I’m always happy in everything. Of course that in your job you have some hard days that you don’t enjoy so much, but life is hard like that, you have to pass and process. Everything that I do, I try to do with passion. If I’m not enjoying what I’m doing, I’m not going to do a good job and develop myself.”
How did this motto led into Movistar Team? How were you received there?
“In my second year of U-23, I was back to Spain and if you’re doing well in a country, of course you dream team is going to be a big team in that country, and they may be watching you; that was the case. I was quite strong in my second year of U-23, I won two races, I was pretty much competitive the whole season, and I was flying in the last part. It’s not too common to be good the whole year and then end the season even better, but that was the year of the pandemic, so the biggest races in Spain were at the end of the season. I started having negotiations with pro teams, and one of those teams was Movistar. Having the possibility to sign with the biggest team in Spain, you take it. I signed with Movistar for 3 years and it was a dream come true.
[I was received] pretty well. Because they try to make everyone feel comfortable and like they belong, I felt really good on the team. It was such an honour to be on the same team with Imanol [Erviti] and [José Joaquín] Rojas, now retired. It was such an incredible experience and even more incredible how they treated me.”
Photo: PhotoGomezSport
You once cited the Volta a Portugal as your favourite race in Movistar colours. Tell us all about that race. Were you expecting to lead the team? How did you feel on Torre? Were you happy with the final result? How much did you learn about yourself?
“When the team told me that I would do the Volta a Portugal, I was super happy, because it was a challenge for me. I was having a good year, I was strong and developing myself in a good way. I prepared myself for a whole month, I did altitude in Andorra and trained really hard. When I arrived in Portugal, I was at my prime!
When I had the first meeting with the team, I wasn’t the leader, just another domestique. But when the Volta started, I was always there and close. And then the 3rd stage was Torre, which decides a lot of the race. I was feeling super good, like I was flying, so I said to myself ‘ok, you’re going to be there for your teammate, but if he doesn’t feel good or won’t be fighting for the GC, it’s your time, you don’t have many of these opportunities’. My teammate wasn’t feeling too good that day and he told me to do my own race, so I had a free role and I started my game. Everyone started attacking during the climb, I was following every attack, and in the final, I started attacking as well, we dropped a few riders and I ended 3rd on that stage. It was a dream stage: I realised that I wasn’t just a guy who had turned pro, I was a guy with possibilities to win stages and fight for GC.
I was [happy with the result]. When I took the flight to Portugal, I was thinking that I was going to have a pretty good Volta, I wasn’t thinking about what I would achieve at the end of the race. The only time before that I was close to the podium was in the Basque Country, but in a one-day race [Circuito de Getxo]. Everybody was saying to me that it was the ‘Grandíssima’, the Tour de France of the country, and maybe I wasn’t going to be so good in the race. In the end, fighting for GC, I’m still really happy with the result.
I learned a lot. Portugal is such a hard place to race, not just because of the climbs or the weather, but because of the riders; there are such strong riders at that point of the season. It’s the biggest race for the teams in Portugal and they’re flying. You are also in a really good shape, but you’ve been racing a lot before, so you’re also a bit tired, while they are just preparing that race. Every day I was learning something in every way, not just in the way to ride, but also in the way I needed to eat, because it was super-hot, and it was almost a 2-week race.”
It was on this topic that Abner González’s interview in December ended. At the time, the Puerto Rican cyclist shared that he would not continue with Movistar Team and, for that reason, he saw Portugal as an option to continue his career. After long negotiations, he signed a contract with EFAPEL Cycling for the 2024 season. In the orange of the team led by José Azevedo, Abner González has already raced the Figueira Champions Classic and the Volta ao Algarve, but it was in the Volta ao Alentejo that he stood out the most, reaching 3rd place in the ‘queen stage’ of the race and then securing that same place at the end. It was precisely at this stage, in Castelo de Vide, that Portuguese Cycling Magazine interviewed the Portuguese sports director, who amicably answered our questions.
Abner González had a great 4th stage of the Volta ao Alentejo, rising to 3rd place in the general classification. Can you tell us more about this rider?
“He is a rider who has already demonstrated his value in recent years. For us, he is an asset and a good signing for the team, due to his experience and ability, especially in the mountain stages. If our mountain group was already quite strong, the arrival of Abner makes it even stronger. Today [4th stage of the Volta ao Alentejo], we had a very aggressive race and in the end he was well in front. He lacked the edge of speed and the fact that he didn’t compete much ended up spoiling him. But he is a rider who is an excellent climber, who has already demonstrated and I think will demonstrate his quality more often.”
How did EFAPEL Cycling manage to sign Abner González?
“By the will of both parties: Abner’s desire to join the team, through various contacts with his agent, and also our desire to have him. In the end, after several conversations, the negotiation period – which lasted some time – ended up coming to fruition and I think both parties are satisfied.”
Knowing that all the preparation is still missing, do you believe that this 3rd place could be even better in a few months, at the Volta a Portugal?
“God willing so. The objective of this team is, in all competitions, to fight for first place. We have Abner, Joaquim [Silva], Henrique [Casimiro] and Pedro Pinto, who is a young rider who is establishing himself especially in the mountains. We have Tiago [Antunes], who is a very fast cyclist in one-week races, and [Santiago] Mesa, a sprinter that we signed. For the Volta, of course there will be a definition of riders and leaders, but fortunately we have several options.”
Photo: EFAPEL Cycling
We thank Abner González, José Azevedo and EFAPEL Cycling for their willingness to collaborate with us in this interview, and we wish them good luck in the upcoming challenges!
Cover photo: EFAPEL Cycling
No Comment