Oscar Freire’s slight miscalculation cost him the World title – Cycling News
Oscar Freire could not time his sprint at the final day of the World Championships as he was at second position with only 500 metres to go in the race. He started easing up towards the end of the race but completely misjudged the fact that the race was not
over. Freire has been in the situation before but the three times World Road Race Champion could not make it happen at Copenhagen.
The Spanish captain shared his disappointment with the media after the race as Oscar mentioned that he was having good legs and still could not make it through. Jose Joaquin Rojas has been a great help for Freire but he really missed his services towards
the end of the race. Rojas was the front lead out man for him and in the final kilometres of the race he could not make it to the final bunch. He said, "We made a really good race from the beginning, but in the final I expected Rojas to be with me at the front."
The 35-year-old mentioned that he got close to win the Championships this year as he was in great shape and was hopeful to cross the finish line ahead of the bunch. He told cycling news, "I was in the front and in second position, and I thought that it was
too early to start sprinting. So I waited and the others were coming from behind really fast.” He further added that "I expected to do better but it simply wasn't possible. I made an error in the sprint. My legs were good that's the frustrating thing."
The Spaniard finished the race at 9th position with Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish winning in a total time of 5:40:27. Matthew Harley Goss of Australia, Andre Greipel of Germany and Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland were at the second, third and
fourth positions respectively. Freire mentioned that he could have finished the race at second or third position but a slight misjudgement cost him 8 positions.
The cyclist announced his retirement earlier this month if he fails to win the title at the World Championships. Oscar’s contract with team Rabobank is expiring at the end of this year and he has not signed with any team yet. It will be interesting to see
if the three times World Road Champion continues to ride or calls it a day.
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