The Worlds At His Feet

Much as he has done in his caree r in general, Costa edged quie tly into the limelight at the Worlds

Neither Costa’s 15th place in 2011 nor 11th in 2012 had set the Worlds alight but they were certainly promising.

So too was a prior victory in the 2011 GP Montreal, with its circuit and 16 ascents of two steady climbs arguably very similar to the Worlds.

“I didn’t go into the Worlds with any real ambitions, although in the race I could tell I was on an extra-good day,” Costa recalls. “I almost cracked on the last climb, when Rodríguez attacked [on the Via Salviati] and we were chasing him down.”

The classic scenario of the rider least under pressure – in this case Costa – being able to out-think those with much more to lose then played itself out in the final kilometres. As Costa saw it, whatever the outcome, he knew he would leave Italy with his head held high.

“When Rodríguez attacked again, he was very strong but I was already really satisfied with my Worlds, which was good because by that point I wasn’t exactly at 100 per cent. So I said to myself ‘ You’ve got to wait.’ I couldn’t have gone with him as he was too strong. It was only after he’d attacked that I felt confident enough to make my own move.” “I had no idea if Alejandro was following me when I went for it… I didn’t want to look back. Then maybe 300 metres before the line I got him, and when he saw me, the look in Purito’s face said it all. But it was still really close…”

Although the Spanish press hammered both Rodríguez and Valverde for their lack of collaboration, Costa says “I don’t think they did anything particularly wrong. Maybe they didn’t calculate on my strength. If I hadn’t gone for it when I did, Rodríguez would have won for sure. So that wasn’t a bad strategy on their part. But they underestimated me.”