“I think about this [being the] last time, all the time” is how, prior to crashing out of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Ilnur Zakarin describes his attitude to racing in his final year of his career, aged 32.
One of Russia’s most successful racers of recent times, Zakarin already has won stages in the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and a top three placing in the Vuelta a España from back in 2017 in his palmares.
Yet more than keeping in mind what he’s achieved so far as a racer, his motivation for 2022, he tells Cyclingnews, is the sensation that he will soon no longer be a bike rider.
“Yes, I think about this 'last time’ all the time,” Zakarin says.
“I’ll tell you one story about this: when I was in training camp in Calpe this winter, on one of my rides I went up the Col de Rates and I started thinking -' hey it’s the last time up this climb. So I have to go up it full gas.
“And I need this kind of emotion for this year. It’s really important.”
If drawing motivation from his imminent exit represents the ‘how’, Zakarin is aiming to tackle his last year, there remains the 'why' he is hanging up his wheels at the comparatively young age of 32.
“Interesting question,” he answers somewhat laconically. "I want to spend more time with my family, because for Italian or Spanish riders who live here in this part of Europe, after races they can fly [straight] home to friends, family.”
But for Americans, Australians and Russians, Zakarin argues, no matter where they go in western Europe and reside, “it’s like a second training camp. It doesn’t feel like we’re staying at home.”
Home for Zakarin and his family, in any case, is not in Russia. It is in Cyprus where he says he thinks he’ll remain after his career draws to an end. The eastern Mediterranean island has a large number of Russian residents, he explains, and after an unsuccessful attempt to live in Italy seven years ago, the Zakarin family are now pretty much settled on Cyprus.
Zakarin was speaking to Cyclingnews some 24 hours before he crashed out of the race mid-way through stage 3. According to race medical sources, the Russian suffered concussion and an injured jaw that needed hospital treatment and stitches. Plans to go to a training camp in the Canaries after Valenciana are therefore likely up in the air, although with his next race is not until March, it’s to be hoped he has time to recover.
The Russians' plans long-term remain vague, but he is open to the idea of working with young riders from his home country, and perhaps working, too, to bring more races to Russia. Zakarin admits it will be an uphill battle: his hopes of finding new cycling talent in his home country are limited. Not because the potential isn’t there, but because there are very few opportunities for it to shine.
“There are not so many riders right now, it’s really difficult because Russia doesn’t have a cycling culture and that’s a big difference between [western] Europe and Russia. Also there are not a lot of races. But I will try to do something about this,” he explains.
For now Zakarin has his own goals for 2022 to keep him focused, which essentially consist of turning in as good a performance as is realistically possible.
“I don’t have some special goals and I simply want to do my best,” he insists.
“Because I need this: When you are in your last year, you have to give everything you have.”
