For most riders at the Giro d'Italia, their media obligations end as soon as the door slams shut and their team bus pulls away from the finish town. For Andrey Amador (Movistar), however, his press duties are only beginning.
Over the past two weeks, as he has climbed to a wholly unexpected fourth place on the general classification, Amador has regularly had his evening meal and massage interrupted by telephone calls from journalists in his native Costa Rica.
"There's an eight-hour time difference but the journalists from back home call me a lot in the evenings to talk to me about the race," Amador told Cyclingnews. "It's not always easy because it's after the stage and I'm having dinner or massage or something, but I try to keep in contact with them as best I can."
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Amador's performance in the Valdobbiadene time trial at the weekend, which temporarily lifted him into the top three, was front page news in the Central American country, where his exploits are also being broadcast on television. "The first sport in Costa Rica is football, obviously, but cycling is becoming more popular now, and I'm realising that a lot people are following the Giro," he said.
Just three days shy of the finish in Milan, Amador remains in fourth place on general classification, 5:48 behind the maglia rosa of Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), but less than a minute off the podium. On the Giro's toughest mountain stages to date, the 28-year-old has summoned forth displays of the kind only fleetingly seen before during his six seasons in the professional ranks. He placed 6th at Madonna di Campiglio and then 5th at Aprica, catching and passing Fabio Aru (Astana) on the way up the Mortirolo.
"Yes, it's a bit of a surprise. I knew I was in good shape before this Giro, but I didn't expect to be in fourth place overall at this point, to be in with a shout of the podium," Amador admitted.
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