Whatever happens in the remaining week of La Vuelta 2024, there is one name that will forever be linked to this year’s edition. It is Pablo Castrillo (23 years old), who has won two stages in four days, something that a Spaniard has not done in La Vuelta (double) since Alejandro Valverde in 2018. And, in addition, Castrillo won two mountainous stages such as Manzaneda and, especially, the Cuitu Negru.
A victory that will live long in the memory of the race, being also a rider of an invited team, Kern Pharma, who has been living on cloud nine for all these weeks since the start in Lisbon, taking advantage and giving shine to an invitation that is more expensive than ever, as has rarely been seen. However, Juanjo Oroz, the director, showed all his confidence after several failed escapes, and even sprints: “It will come, guys (the victory), it will come.” And boy did it come. Double time and with Castrillo as the protagonist in both.
“This is a fucking dream. If I didn’t believe it after winning the first one, to do it in the Cuitu Negru… winning two stages is the best, and Manolo Azcona (founder of the organization who passed away last week) will be smiling from up there,” said the corpulent rider, who was also a climber. With his beginnings in ice hockey, a sport he practiced for many years, having his brother Jaime at home (28 years old, also from the Lizarte youth team, who went through Movistar, Kern Pharma and retired until this summer, when he returned to racing in Portugal after having a really bad time for a while) pushed him to get fully into cycling.
“I had my brother as a reference and I got hooked… and until now,” adds the Aragonese, who used the experience of Manzaneda to repeat this success. “I watched the videos of that day several times and I looked back a lot, which made me lose quite a bit of strength. Not this time. Also, I was less nervous because I had already won before. I attacked with more determination and pedalled hard,” explained a smiling, but shy Pablo. Watched for some time by the greats, this budding pearl, who revealed his ambition in AS at the start of this Vuelta, managed to hold off Vingegaard in a one-on-one for a few kilometres in O Gran Camiño. By then, Ineos already had him on its radar, and did not let him escape, overtaking a rider whose cachet will rise after La Vuelta to levels that are difficult to imagine.
On the Cuitu Negru he rode like a veteran, attacking in one of the hardest parts, being caught by his main pursuer, Vlasov, but not letting him get ahead at any time. “When I saw him coming, I saw that he was as annoyed as I was, so I thought it was a good time to attack again. I never thought I could win on such a mythical summit,” said a proud Aragonese who had Fernando Escartín (from the land and technical director of La Vuelta) as a reference. “He opened many doors for us,” concluded the revelation of La Vuelta. A different rider.
