Zdenek is heading to the Vuelta a Espana after one week of rest on Mallorca. He returned from the Olympics a week ago, so he had some time to recover from the time difference and the long trip home.
“I flew from Rio to Lisbon, to Barcelona and then to Mallorca. It took me quite a long time to get from the time difference and the flight itself was also long. I trained on Mallorca from Wednesday, but I only did some light rides in the first days. Only the last couple of days I trained seriously, even though I had in mind that I need to rest before the Vuelta.”
The Olympic expierence was mainly positive, even though the result was not as expected.
“It was an incredible expierence. The whole village, the possibility to meet other athletes. The whole atmosphere was great. It felt like a training camp. You are eating with 10.000 other athletes on the same place. I met all of our big names in the Czech village. We met every morning for a coffee and he a minute to chat with each other. The most interesting was to learn how their season and trainings work.”
“The race itself? I just didn’t feel good that day. My shape was good, that wasn’t it. I don’t know if was the good, the water, the humidity or the heat… I just didn’t feel good.”
After the race there was also time to watch some other sports. “We went to see Barobora Strycova and Lucie Safarova playing the Williams sisters. That was my best passive sport expierence so far! There was a moment when we were so loud, that the Brazilian part of the crowd started to scream ‘Czech! Czech!’ Really an impressive expierence.”
But now it’s time for the Vuelta. “There is a chance for a stage victory for sure. I will do my best, but I will take it day by day. First I need to feel good again.”