CLIMBING TOWARDS THE TOP. At the village of Santo Isidro de Pegões, near Setúbal in Portugal, Ruben Guerreiro started his career on a cross-country bike, before taking the leap towards road racing at age 16. Partly due to that MTB background, the youngster known as ‘Cowboy’ always shone as a climber. Credited with good performances as an under-23 -winner of the Volta do Future; called several times for the Portuguese national team-, it didn’t took much time, as with nearly every major Portuguese cyclist in the European scene, for him to start a career abroad. At 20 years of age, he left for no less than the United States, in two different phases as part of the Axeon Hagens Berman (2015-16) and Trek-Segafredo (2017-18) squads.
CONSISTENT STEPS. His years as part of the Axel Merckx-led roster allowed him the necessary time to continue his progression and performing well in the WorldTour straight away. In 2017, he became national road race champion at a tough course in Gondomar, alone against the big local squads; in 2018, he came close to a first international win -2nd in the Queen stage of Algarve; 4th at the Herald Sun Tour; 5th in Plouay-; and in 2019, during a short period with Katusha, he made his Grand Tour debut in La Vuelta, finishing 2nd atop El Acebo and confirming his great progression.
HIS BEST SUCCESS – AND WHAT’S TO COME! The pandemic didn’t stop those improvements, and even served as a breakthrough for his career. In October 2020, he claimed arguably his best victory yet atop Roccaraso, end of stage nine of a Giro d’Italia he ended as the best climber (Maglia Azzurra). In 2021, he returned to Italy and made his TDF debut: he finished 18th in Paris, with several breakaways of note. In 2022, he rose his arms victorious in style at the Mont Ventoux and finished in the overall podium of the Deutschland Tour (3rd). And in 2023, he notched up his first-ever GC success -the Saudi Tour (now alUla Tour), also claiming the Queen stage atop Harrat Uwayrid in the process- and was 3rd in O Gran Camiño. Setbacks took him, however, out of the two Grand Tours he took the start at: the Tour and La Vuelta.
