![\"\u00d3scar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/oscar-freire-508550536.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Freire also reflects on the process that ultimately left someone else in charge of the national team. In his view, the choice did not come down solely to sporting criteria. “Close the book on it, no. What I\u2019ve realised is that it\u2019s more political than sporting, and in the end I wasn\u2019t named the selector because of that,” notes the former professional.<\/p>\n
Coaching his own son?<\/p>\n
In that hypothetical scenario, Freire even imagines a particular situation: having to make decisions that could affect his own son, Marcos, who currently rides for UAE Team Emirates Gen-Z.<\/p>\n
“Having to select my son\u2026 Hopefully, if he has the level, why not. I think that would be, in this case, for the U23s, not for the pro level, but I\u2019d love to become selector and select my son, of course,” he says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00d3scar Freire, three-time world champion<\/p>\n
Marcos is not following in his father’s steps for now<\/p>\n
The former sprinter also assesses Marcos Freire\u2019s sporting future and acknowledges that the road to the professional ranks is not straightforward. In his view, the young rider\u2019s development will be key to determining how far he can go.<\/p>\n
“I think if he improves he can be a good cyclist, but if he doesn\u2019t he\u2019ll have to look for another sport or, who knows, maybe he needs two or three years to adapt and improve,” Freire explains.<\/p>\n
The young athlete joined the talent academy of world’s best team ahead of the 2025 season after a solid junior campaign that saw him claim 7 victories on Spanish roads, but the transition to under-23 category has been far from smooth. In his first year, Marcos’ best result was a 17th place in one of the sprint stages of Istrian Trophy (2.2) in Croatia.<\/p>\n
The rest of the season saw the young Freire race mostly in support of his leaders, often seeing a ‘DNF’ next to his name in the results sheet. A stark contrast to his compatriot Adria Pericas, whose debut season with the Gen-Z team immediately earned him a promotion to WorldTour for 2026.<\/p>\n
His father compares his son\u2019s progression with that of the current peloton\u2019s major stars and notes that not all riders evolve at the same pace or with the same ease. “It\u2019s very easy when you\u2019re like Pogacar, who\u2019s sipping water while the others are suffering, but not everyone is Pogacar,” he concludes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Freire also reflects on the process that ultimately left someone else in charge of the national team.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,131134,101,12183,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-475602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-oscar-freire","tag-sports","tag-uae-team-emirates-xrg","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}