The Russian cyclist Artem Nych is the current leader of the Tour of Portugal, when seven stages of the race have already been run. On the rest day, the Glassdrive Q8 Anicolor rider left his yellow jersey in his hotel room and changed into the team jersey for a 65km training session with his teammates.
“I’m a little tired, which is normal. It’s been six days now. Today it’s time to rest, train a bit and prepare for three very hard days. It is important to train on the rest day. train, it’s very dangerous”, explained the cycling coach to TSF.
The goal is not to have a bad day, which in a two-week race can be enough to say goodbye to the general classification goals. With four stages to go, Artem Nych leads the Tour of Portugal, 27 seconds ahead of Delio Fernández and half a minute ahead of Colin Stüssi.
The road to becoming a professional cyclist was not very easy, but he had an inspiration: “My father also raced in the past and I try to continue.”
Nych was born in Kemerovo, in Russia’s Siberian region, a difficult place for cycling.
“There are few cyclists, because there are not good conditions for training and stuff. In my city, the most popular sport is hockey. [no gelo]”explains the runner.
The 28-year-old Russian has been a professional since 2014. He has represented Russian teams throughout his career. He started at Russian Helicopters and then moved to Gazprom-Rusvelo, where he stayed until last year.
However, the war in Ukraine caused the Russian Federation to be expelled from international competitions. Artem Nych was forced to look for new paths to follow his career and he found them in Portugal.
At 1.95 meters, a giant by cycling standards, the Russian arrived in Portugal this year and already has good results. He won the Beiras and Serra da Estrela GPs and was second in the Torres Vedras International GP-Joaquim Agostinho Trophy. So Portugal is getting to know him well and it’s not just because of the victories.
“I like cod and also pastel de nata, honey bread. Many things, like normal people”, reveals the cyclist between laughs.
The teammates are also helping and are even trying to learn some Russian: “Yes, yes. My teammates learned a little Russian, but Russian is also very difficult, like Portuguese. I’m happy. In this team, it’s a family.” .
The yellow jersey remained this Wednesday at the hotel, but it is always on Artem Nych’s mind. There are four days left in the Volta a Portugal, where the peloton will finish at Serra do Larouco and Senhora da Graça, to culminate with a time trial in Viana do Castelo, which ends with the ascent to the Sanctuary of Santa Luzia. This Thursday you will go up to Larouco, in a stage that starts from Torre de Moncorvo and covers 162.6 kilometers to Montalegre.
Source: TSF
