INEOS-Spaniard denied opportunity for his desired farewell: 'Cycling today is very inhuman'

A number of riders are saying goodbye to the sport this year. Some have careers spanning more than fifteen years and have watched cycling change before their eyes. Omar Fraile is one of them. The Spaniard from INEOS Grenadiers is hanging up his bike — and he doesn’t like the direction the sport is heading.

Fraile built a reputation as a pure attacker. During his years at Caja Rural, Dimension Data and Astana, he was a constant presence in breakaways, earning several big results. He famously won a Tour de France stage in 2018. “That Tour stage was both brutal and special,” he says, recalling the finish in Mende. “If I had to choose a single day, I think the Tour victory was the most special.”

Fraile began his career in 2013 and rode 15 Grand Tours. In addition to his Tour stage, he also won a stage at the Giro d’Italia, claimed the mountains classification twice at the Vuelta a España, and took wins in both the Tour of the Basque Country and the Tour de Romandie. A career worthy of a proper farewell.

But that farewell never came. The former Spanish champion had been hoping to end his career in the Vuelta a España, but INEOS Grenadiers denied him the chance. “In the end I couldn’t be there due to work commitments with the team, and that feeling stayed with me,” he tells Marca. “It just wasn’t meant to be — and that’s it, you shouldn’t dwell on it.”

Yet issing his home Grand Tour was deeply painful. “I was actually preparing for it, and I felt good. But the team decided to take me out, and that was their decision.” INEOS Grenadiers ultimately won three stages at the Vuelta, thanks to Egan Bernal, Filippo Ganna, and Ben Turner. And Fraile? after his preparation in Burgos, he only featured in Paris-Tours in october.

For Fraile, being left out may symbolize something bigger. He has watched the sport transform in front of him. “I’ve seen three different styles of cycling, and as I’ve said before, the sport today is very inhuman and extremely demanding. This makes it very difficult for a rider to have a 15-year career because it brings so much mental and physical fatigue. That wear and tear takes its toll.”

In the current peloton, there may be less room for purists like the Basque rider. “Teams are businesses, and that means everyone looks at their numbers and performs at 100% in every race. From my point of view, a lot of things need to go back to how they were, and others need to change so we can get that momentum back. But maybe I’m wrong — I can tell you in a few years.”