This article originally appeared in Spanish at Volata
Óscar Freire was always a different kind of cyclist. A born winner. A lover of the Classics. His way of understanding cycling was more similar to the cycling culture of Italy, Belgium or the Netherlands than to the Spanish ethos at that time, which is why he carved out such a successful career abroad.
Three World Championships titles (1999, 2001 and 2004) are Freire’s greatest achievements in one-day races, while his victories in the La Flèche Brabançonne (Brabantse Pijl), Paris-Tours, Gent-Wevelgem also stand out. But if there was one uncontrollable race he was able to tame, that was Milan-Sanremo. The Cantabrian conquered the Monument – notoriously difficult to win – three times, in 2004, 2007 and 2010.
Here, we catch up with Freire to look back on his Italian successes and find exactly what it takes to win.
This Saturday is Milan-Sanremo, do you relive memories every time this event approaches?
Well, I did especially in the early years, when I just quit professional cycling, I was very excited to watch it. Now the years have gone by and, let’s see, a Milan-Sanremo is always a great event because of the final part and because it has always been one of my main objectives. However, lately I’ve been away from home attending cycling events in March, like this year, and it’s more complicated, but I’ll try to keep an eye on it.
What has Milan-Sanremo meant in your career?
A lot. In the end, my first foreign team was Mapei and it was a structure that practically won all the Classics, but they lacked a Sanremo. From the very first training camp they were already talking about this race, they put it into your head. As it was a course that suited me very well, I knew that it had to be one of my objectives.
Freire wearing his second rainbow jersey at the 2002 edition of Milan-Sanremo (Image by Getty Images)
Your first victory was in 2004 against Erik Zabel, with whom you had already shared the podium in your first participation in 2000. It was a very close finish in which the German raised his arms early, how do you remember it?
It was very special moment. The truth is that it was a mistake by Zabel because he got overconfident. But I think that it was fair that I won in terms of performance. I remember that just before the sprint we were fighting for the position and I gave it to him, so he came out better placed in the last metres and I relaxed a bit and came out very late.
You…