“It must be said that in previous years, when I debuted at individual stages of the World Cup, I was quite young. And, probably from a financial perspective, these competitions also pose a challenge. I think in the past years we couldn’t align my finances and my training. This year everything came together, and we decided to participate in this Tour. Perhaps also because there were points to earn in the Nations Ranking. We took all these factors into account, which is why we decided to enter this time,” the athlete explained.
According to him, the main goal was to reach the finish line. And
although the competition took a lot of strength, the last day was not the most difficult, Vīgants noted.
“For me, it was the fourth day, and we had a pursuit race in Toblach. Before that, everything went well. The main thing was to stay healthy and be attentive to what you do after the race, so as not to get sick and endure the Tour,” the skier remarked.
He acknowledged that he made a mistake with the ski wax:
“Although before the mountain I stayed with the main group, I could already feel that my skis were not performing as well as I would have liked. Because of this, I had to exert much more effort to keep up. I immediately realized that uphill I would struggle. The first kilometer of the climb is relatively gentle, and ideally, there should not be any issues there. But I found it challenging to keep pace with the leaders, who indeed had a high tempo on the ascent. I won’t deny — I felt I could work, I could climb that mountain. So, I can only regret that I messed up the skis.”
Over nine days, there were seven races, so great attention had to be paid to recovery, Vīgants highlighted.
“It was crucial to change quickly after finishing to avoid catching a cold. Because that could lead to disqualification. These were the main nuances to keep in mind to finish the competition,” the skier explained.
In addition to physical readiness, financial readiness is also essential:
“First and foremost, ski servicing turned out to be the most expensive for me. Seven days of racing, and each day cost me 100 euros. So in total – 700 euros. Plus accommodation. That’s an additional 1200 euros. Other parallel expenses also piled up. Overall, the costs turned out to be much higher than at a regular World Cup stage. In any case, the duration was significantly longer as well.”
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