Tadej Pogacar shouted, his fists clenched, finally some happiness after days of agony, of seeking and not finding explanations for his lost Tour. A victory at Le Markstein, the 11th of his career at the age of 24. A cry of rage at the finish line in the Vosges, the podium for the teammate assured, goal of the day accomplished, even though the real one, the one that matters, lost it resoundingly in the middle of the week with that imperturbable guy that is Jonas Vingegaard, vigilant to the last meter even though he had everything well tied up, his second consecutive Tour, a place in history. [Narration and ratings]

In that sprint in Le Makrstein were the recovered forces, but also the liberation from so much frustration. The Slovenian prevailed without too many problems, there is no one like him with that punch, ahead of Felix Gall and Vingegaard himself, who could hardly oppose. Behind, the Yates brothers, Adam securing third place overall and Simon storming fourth from an injured and suffering Carlos Rodríguez, who reached 50 seconds and finished his first Tour fifth, with the victory in Morzine forever.. Sixth and also a stage winner, another one that deserves applause, a whole Pello Bilbao to the end.

It turned out to be a stage of keeping what was obtained for three weeks before attempting feats, ambitions already as exhausted as energies. A day marked by the last dance of Thibaut Pinot, by the early fall of Carlos Rodríguez and by Pogacar's only attack in Platzerwasel, 5.5 from the top, although without solution of continuity. Once traced by Vingegaard, they played tactically, without conceding a relief to the Dane, this time to the expectation of the Slovenian.

It had been a completely frantic stage start. Nobody wanted to be absent from the last party of the Tour, despite the forces at the limit, a true gymkhana in just over 130 kilometers through the Vosges. At dawn from Belfort, Vingegaard could well be seen in the group of escapees, arousing the suspicions of the rest. Or Giulio Ciccone collecting points for his mountain jersey. He was going to achieve it mathematically in the fourth level, the Col de la Schlucht and he celebrated it like this, with arms raised as if he had won a stage. The last Italian to finish with the red dotted jersey was Franco Pellizotti in 2009, before Chiappucchi in 1992.

Thibaut Pinot also monopolized the spotlight, the last propitious stage in the career of one of the most charismatic cyclists in the peloton, receiving all the deserved tributes in the mountains where he grew up and where he has his farm in Melisey. A guy who carried the weight of a nation on his shoulders, capable of acknowledging that he puts his popularity above his talent, of pronouncing: “I wish I had less love and more victories.”

But not all were joys. Carlos Rodríguez and Sepp Kuss were involved in a fall at kilometer 33, in a curve of the descent of the Ballon d'Alsace, both soon reinstated but with visible injuries on their bodies and faces. It was going to be too much for the Spaniard, who nevertheless never gave up even though he saw how soon the chances of getting back on the podium vanished, even the other Yates slipped away from him.

The escapees, who never enjoyed a notable advantage, soon found themselves caught up in Pogacar's impetus. Felix Gall took the initiative with the two colossi again testing each other and the Yates brothers finished their work masterfully.

Rafa Muñoz appears for the Canoe in Madrid or for the Club Mediterráneo in Málaga or for La Venatoria in León and explains to the kids the tricks of swimming with a butterfly. It is done like this. It's done that way. A clinic, wow. “And I notice that, later, in the locker room, they search for me on Google. When they go out they bring another face. They are usually prudent, but they ask me many, many questions,” explains Muñoz in conversation with EL MUNDO before the Fukuoka Swimming World Cup whose races begin this Sunday. How not to ask him questions. At the age of 21, in 2009, he was the world record holder in the 50-meter butterfly swimming alongside Michael Phelps, at 22 and 24 he was European champion and at the age of 28, in 2016, he left it. He had overcome a depression, two suicide attempts, an addiction to alcohol, but he ended up fed up, fed up with the Federation, with the lack of aid, with the gossip.

Have you swum again? The truth is that yes. I went years without doing it. But the clinics have helped me remember who I was, to remember the smell of chlorine. I practice crossfit and now with my boxing mates I sometimes go to the pool. I throw myself to soak, I do 1,000 or 1,200 meters, and I feel like a motherfucker, the truth. I would not compete again, but I maintain the technique, the sensations, the efficiency. What have you done after you retired? I was competing for a year for the National Police, but I had to quit. I started working at Decathlon, I spent five years there, I grew a lot in the company and then I looked for an alternative, because I wanted other things. Now I am responsible for logistics at Etenon Fitness. I work like any mortal and I live with my family in Barcelona. Excuse the intimacy: Are you happy today? What is happiness? It's hard to define, but I would say yes.. In my current life, like when I was swimming, I have great satisfaction and I also have brown. I think people have the feeling that I always suffered swimming, but I was happy. Most of my swimming career I was happy. Now I have internalized what happened to me, I have learned and I try to extrapolate it to my current life. Depression either kills you or you kill it. There are people who commit suicide and people who come out with a lot learned. What did you learn? That I lived it all at once, very young, success, fame, I became very saturated. With the world record the depression began and then I caught it very close. To be honest, I didn't catch it in time, I caught it very close. I treated myself with my psychologist, José Carlos Jaenes, and I have not had any relapse. I'm super proud to have maintained myself ever since. Did that saturation lead you to withdraw years later? No, it had nothing to do with it. I went through a depression, recovered, came back, was European champion in 2010 and then my career sank. I retired for the Federation, because they never trusted me. They always said that he was a storyteller, that he was lazy, that he was a complainer and that he had gone through a depression. Now we are learning about these issues, about mental health, but there is still a long way to go. There was a technical director, Luis Villanueva, who did what he wanted and who is still there. The 2012 Games upset me a lot and I already thought about leaving it, but I endured a little longer. Now that's my little thorn, not having gotten that Olympic medal. Over time, did you know how to deal with fame? Fame came and went with the results. I took it better and I took it worse, I was up and down, but what really exhausted me, over the years, was that fight with the Federation. That lack of trust, that lack of help. That's why I retired so young. A few months after his world record, in early 2010, they banned the use of plastic swimsuits. Did it hurt you? Not especially. I was European champion after the ban. There had never been technology in swimming and, suddenly, there was a boom, we broke 100 world records in a year and they decided to cut their losses.. There was a lot of pressure from the media and also economically, because those records had to be paid. Now, 14 years later, swimsuits are just as technological as they were then.. It is normal, in Formula 1 they have invented the DRS, on motorcycles, the spoilers…. The problem is that swimming came suddenly. Seen with perspective, was it a mistake to drop out and throw yourself into swimming? I don't know what to tell you. I wasn't a good student either, I was always a go-getter. I threw myself into swimming 200% because it is what I knew how to do almost perfectly, what I liked, what gave me money. I saw it as my way of life from a very young age. I have always thought that I should have taken more care of my studies, but if I had done so, perhaps I would not have been a good swimmer. Did you have any financial problems? I did not earn like a footballer, far from it, but if you rub elbows at a certain level, even in swimming, you can live well. I was always a saver and I retired with a certain cushion, I had no problems. They say that now he is going to compete in crossfit. They propose it to me, yes, but I don't see it at all. I am very competitive and if I sign up for something, I would not leave the box, I would always be preparing myself. Crossfit amuses me for the social part, for training in a group. It is completely different from swimming. In fact, there is nothing like swimming. In athletics, you go jogging with people, in cycling, with the group. In swimming, when you put your head under the water, you are very alone. When you're good, you're the best, you break the corduroy. But when you're bad… You can't stop thinking that everything is fucking shit. You try to cheer up and it's impossible. It is a very tough sport mentally.

If it can't be one for all, let it at least be all for one. With the decline of Mireia Belmonte, there is a lack of references and the only candidate, Hugo González, struggles among the doubts he left in the last Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. It is possible that Spain will leave again without medals from the Fukuoka Swimming World Cup that begins this Sunday: it has not won one since 2017. For this reason, the Spanish Federation has changed course.

The objective is no longer to lift up a star and give it what it needs, as was done with Belmonte. The plan is to build a middle class of 10, 15 or 20 swimmers capable of qualifying for the important events and, from there, who knows?. To do this, last year he signed the British coach Ben Titley, who had just been technical director in Canada, and set his eyes beyond the horizon: a podium at the Los Angeles 2028 Games is the desired success.

“When Ben arrived he changed the focus. In individual events we are far from the world top and, therefore, his first decision was to promote the relay. Years ago we already saw that we were there to compete in teams and we were not given this opportunity,” explains César Castro, one of the members of the 4×100 freestyle relay to EL MUNDO, who was the only happy team in the last European Championship.. National record and fourth place, a surprise. This Sunday at the World Cup, the dream is to enter the final and compete against the United States, Australia, Italy or Hungary. Qualifying for the 2024 Paris Games seems impossible because they would have to get on the podium, but being close would already be a step forward.

“Young people are far from individual medals, but anything can happen in the relay. We are grateful for the trust and we want to respond,” says Castro, who shares the relief with Sergio de Celis, Luis Domínguez and Mario Mollà. Thanks to the commitment to the teams, Spain has brought 22 swimmers to Fukuoka, a very high number, not seen since the 1986 World Cup in Madrid. In the last three championships, in fact, the team had not reached 10 members.

What else has Titley changed? work differently. Until now, in Spain the philosophy was to put a lot of volume, many kilometers. It was an idea from the 80s. The more you train the better and it really isn't like that. That's why we had good results in World Cups and Junior Europeans, but in the long run we didn't get there, we got injured, there were people who left. Now Ben has adapted the methods to the times, to what is done in other countries. They say that the British technician is a scholar. You have to be in the day to day to see it. How do you plan before training, how do you control the details…. It pushes you to train better than you thought and, at the same time, it quickly adjusts to what we swimmers need.. In Spain we have never had a coach like this. One step away from retiring

Castro is a good example of the sacrifices required by swimming. At the age of 14, he left Plasencia to train as an interim in Cáceres and then moved to Madrid, Gijón and recently to the CAR in Sant Cugat, always looking for the best method.. Long-distance runner as a teenager, a serious shoulder injury forced him to retrain as a sprinter and two years ago he suffered the hardest setback. For a few days he was classified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, but a modification of the selection criteria left him out.

“I lost motivation, I spent weeks without training. With my coach and my psychologist I made the decision to temporarily stop swimming to see if I really wanted to continue swimming. I tried boxing, I even forgot about the water. But then there came a time when I wanted to go back”, says the swimmer who studies Marketing at the UCAM in Murcia and who, at the moment, does not take calls from American universities. Now it is part of the new plan for Spanish swimming. If it cannot be one for all, at least it is all for one.

His first Tour will be one to remember, the outcome doesn't matter. Carlos Rodríguez raising his arms solo Morzine, ahead of Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar; Carlos Rodríguez storming the podium, Carlos Rodríguez suffering in the Alps, Carlos Rodríguez fallen and injured resisting in Le Markstein, saying goodbye to third place and even to fourth with the honor and respect that a race that will hear about him again deserves. 22 years, a thousand lessons for the boy from Almuñécar. The last yesterday, where fate awaited him, the kind that must be overcome so many times in the cruel Grande Boucle.

If because of his engineer's mind he missed one last day to attack, speed up the assault on the lost podium in Courchevel, worry the Yates brothers, soon everything was ruined for Carlos. In a fast left-hand curve, when the firecrackers of an electric day were already sounding ahead, his bike went off and Sepp Kuss ran over him at high speed. It could be worst. The Spaniard, bleeding from his knee, elbow and visibly from his left eyebrow, plasma running down his cheek, soon rejoined the group helped by Omar Fraile.

He later described it with a calm unbecoming of a rookie: «I had bad luck in the descent. I don't know what happened to the front wheel. A spoke has broken, the wheel was off center and in a curve it went away». What's more, at the end of the day, the INEOS man was penalized for going back in the car at the time of reintegration into the main squad. Despite the 20 seconds imposed by the organization, he continues to lead Pello Bilbao by another 10 for fifth place.

Everything already twisted, in the first arreón of Pogacar began an ordeal that was not going to defeat him. While Simon and Adam did the work of brothers against him and even Pello Bilbao was ahead of him, Rodríguez found a little encouragement in Tom Pidcock, always on his own, and then emptied himself to the finish line. «The colleagues have been 10, they have supported me in everything. Thank you very much to Omar and Tom in particular”, pronounced the man from Granada, who said goodbye with a message that speaks of his ambition, of his promises for the future: “I have given the best I had, but it has not been enough. I have to be happy that I left everything. We will come back and try to do better ».

Rodríguez was the great name of the general classification of a Tour that was reconciled with Spanish cycling, despite the hardships of Movistar, touched from the beginning with the fall and abandonment of Enric Mas. There Pello Bilbao stood out especially, finally sixth and with the brilliance of the Issoire stage, five years after that of Omar Fraile. From less to more after not excelling at the start in the Basque Country where so much was expected, “enjoying” this Saturday the “best overall” of his career. «I have had better feelings than ever. It has been a great fight, three super intense weeks, to the limit. He did not come to fight for the general and that has been the best way to face it, “he said.