Come what may in the rest of 2024, for Movistar racer Will Barta, this year is already a season he will always remember.
Back in early February, the American secured his first-ever pro win, the final stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, breaking away for 81 kilometres to beat the pack solo by eight seconds.
It was a hard-fought victory that the 28-year-old had been searching for ever since he turned pro in 2019, with one of the nearest misses coming when he held the lead in the 2020 Vuelta a España third week TT, only to be beaten by the last rider to start, one Primož Roglič, by one second.
Losing to the rider who then went on to win the Vuelta outright was no disgrace whatsoever, but as Barta told Cyclingnews during the recent O Gran Camiño, getting that first win in the bag at Valencia this February was a breakthrough moment.
“Obviously you do wonder a little bit – will I ever win?” Barta said, “Because at the end it’s not that many riders who win races. So for me, it was a big box to tick off because once you see if it’s possible, even if not in the most conventional way, it gives me a lot of confidence going forward.”
It likely helped that Barta’s winter training had been “very good” allowing him to build on his condition and go for the win.
“I’d spent time at altitude, but I would say the biggest thing, honestly is that in the first years in my career, I didn’t have good winters, I kept having injuries,” said Barta. “So to have these two consecutive [good] years, it kind of stacks on each one, and keeps building and I think that’s the biggest key to getting good form.”
Barta’s stepping up a level was reflected at the opening time trial of O Gran Camiño, where he took a very promising fourth place behind stage winner Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers). It was a special result, too, because given the weather was so bad, no TT bikes were allowed and the times did not count for GC.
“I always like the time trials bikes, but it was impossible, we tried, so I figure it was the right call to move to road bikes,” Barta told Cyclingnews. “I went out with the same power plan as for on my time trial bike, because in the end it was not counting for GC but a win is a win.”
“It was always going to be hard to beat Tarling, and for me, as a rider who’s quite small, I’d say it was harder on a road bike. But in any case, he was on another level, there was no beating him.”
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…