Alexis Guérin, Volta winner, backs Porto: “I saw the great 2004 side” | OneFootball

Alexis Guérin won the Volta a Portugal and headed to France after celebrating the triumph with Anicolor-Campicarn. At 34, the French rider is enjoying the greatest success of his career, nurtures a long-standing connection to FC Porto, and is already setting new goals in the peloton. Speaking about the victory he had been chasing, he said: “It was an honor to have managed to win it, and I feel like I’m in a dream.”

It is a time for celebration and travel, but also for reflection for Alexis Guérin, who left Portugal to be with his son Liam, from a previous marriage. Winning the Volta a Portugal brings to an end an obsession openly acknowledged by the Frenchman and makes room for a personal wish off the road: to get to know more closely the club he has supported since 2004.

Asked about what winning the Volta a Portugal meant to him, Guérin did not hide the emotional weight of a race that had been at the center of his preparation since the previous edition.

“Everything. Since last year’s Volta, I have been completely focused on this year’s race. For me, winning meant something huge; it was the fulfillment of a dream. It was an obsession, one of my main goals for 2026,” he said. “Winning the Volta a Portugal means winning the fourth biggest road cycling race in the world, after the Giro, the Vuelta, and the Tour de France. As I said last year, for me, the Volta a Portugal is like the Tour. It was an honor to have managed to win it, and I feel like I’m in a dream.”

In the winner’s words, the Portuguese race carries the weight of a major crowning achievement, not just another victory on the calendar. The intensity of his preparation explains the release felt by someone who has achieved a goal he treated as a priority.

The reception in Porto confirmed for him the popular scale of the triumph and added a powerful image to the end of the race.

“Absolutely. I was impressed by so many people.”

The short reply conveys the impact of a celebration that lived up to the rider’s expectations. After the demands of the road, what remained was the memory of a shared celebration.

The conversation then turned to football and to a passion that Guérin says comes from a family closely tied to the sport. The Frenchman explained his admiration for FC Porto and for Portuguese sport, linking it to a European final he watched in 2004.

“I started cycling late; I come from a football-oriented family, so I have always been a football fan and also a supporter of FC Porto and Portuguese football in general. I discovered that they have an incredible training system. FC Porto is Portugal’s great team, and I remember watching them beat Monaco in the 2004 Champions League final, with a great Ricardo Carvalho, plus Maniche, Deco, and Alenichev,” he explained. “That was a great FC Porto team, but they always go far in the Champions League and are often the best team in the Portuguese league, in my opinion. It’s a great club, the biggest in Portugal. They produce champions by winning every year. This country has an incredible sporting culture and achieves a lot without huge budgets.”

Guérin’s admiration blends memory, sporting culture, and recognition of what he sees as a constant competitive ability. The reference to the 2004 team serves as the starting point of a bond that has lasted beyond football.

Asked about the possibility of being invited to an FC Porto match, the Volta a Portugal winner made it clear that such an invitation would have special meaning.

“It would be more than special, it would be a dream.”

The wish carries the same simplicity with which he described his victory on the road: for Guérin, being close to the club would be another way of fulfilling a personal ambition.

As for his competitive future, the Frenchman has his eye on a Grand Tour and on the possibility of winning again in Portugal, without hiding his ambition to add to his palmarès.

“-I would really like to win a stage in a Grand Tour. That would be my greatest crowning achievement,” he stressed. “But why not? I hope to repeat this victory in the Volta a Portugal. To put two Grandíssimas, maybe three, on my palmarès by the end of my career would be incredible. It would be wonderful.”

After achieving the greatest triumph of his career, Guérin does not see the Volta as an endpoint. His desire to repeat the achievement goes hand in hand with the dream of winning a stage in a Grand Tour, making clear the path he still wants to follow.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.