![\"Purito](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/purito-mundial-florencia-401133785.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re a leader, you have to be well placed to avoid the whiplash, to prevent a split, so you don\u2019t have to chase too much, especially early, because you must save plenty for the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
The opening kilometers are no formality. They\u2019re a terrain of constant control, where national teams test each other without laying all their cards on the table. It\u2019s when the break forms and, with it, one of the day\u2019s most important decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoughly around kilometre 15, 20, 25 the break usually goes.\u201d That\u2019s where a balancing act begins among the teams aiming to win the Worlds. It\u2019s not just about letting riders go, but watching who slips up the road. Purito explains it from the perspective of someone who often lined up as a favourite.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Joaquim Rodr\u00edguez took a bittersweet podium at the 2013 Worlds<\/p>\n
Balancing acts to win the Worlds<\/p>\n
\u201cYou try to prevent any other team that wants to contest\u2014Liquigas with Vincenzo in our case, Valverde with Movistar\u2014from getting someone in the break, because otherwise you\u2019ll be the one forced to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Putting a rider up the road is no minor gesture. It\u2019s a future investment. If you don\u2019t, you accept a workload that, in such a long and hard race, can prove decisive. \u201cOr if you put someone in there, you save yourself work at the end. In this case, we didn\u2019t put anyone in.\u201d<\/p>\n
That detail shapes how the Worlds unfolds. From there, the race moves into a second phase where the terrain starts to bite and the margin for error shrinks to nothing. \u201cThen you wait for the second part, which is usually in a very hard zone. One hundred to go, a very hard zone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Florence offered no rest, with the circuit having two difficult climbs and very rainy weather that also made the descents very dangerous. The route tightens while there\u2019s still a long way to go, forcing riders to spend energy earlier than planned. Its difficulty isn\u2019t just in the numbers, but in the constant tension to stay in position.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery hard and such a stressful fight to get in there, for the reasons we always mention.\u201d At that point, Purito sketches a scene that captures how the race thinned out. A quick scan around, a snapshot of the front group, and the sense that many favourites were already out of place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe Katusha riders arrived there, and I looked around the top twenty\u2014our eight guys\u2014and I couldn\u2019t see any leaders around me. And I kept looking and thinking ‘damn, this one\u2019s gone, that one too’.<\/p>\n
The pace set early turned the Worlds into a race without pauses. There was no time to reorganise or recover what was lost. Everything moved too fast. \u201cIt was pretty quick that day. We didn\u2019t have anyone in the break. The break wasn\u2019t very far, either.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/400972957.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Podium of the 2013 Florence Worlds: Rui Costa, Purito and Valverde<\/p>\n
The Florence grind<\/p>\n
Each of those factors stacked up fatigue, forced decisions, and knife-edge situations. Florence became an endurance contest where the winner isn\u2019t always the strongest, but the one who best managed the entire day.<\/p>\n
Over time, the 2013 Worlds has been analysed from many angles. Yet when Purito is asked directly about that race, his answer leaves no room for doubt or public regret. \u201cDid you make a mistake in Florence? No.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Spaniard attacked in the final kilometers but was later on caught by Rui Costa<\/a>. What was unusual is that in the small chasing group in which only Vincenzo Nibali joined them, Alejandro Valverde<\/a> did not follow Costa’s attack in the final flat section.<\/p>\n This mistake saw Costa catch Rodr\u00edguez and then sprint to the win, whilst Valverde sprinted to third behind. The tactical disaster by the Spanish saw both of their riders finish on the podium but miss out on the victory in Florence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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