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.