The pride of Chuatroj, Totonicapán, Mardoqueo Vásquez, was the surprise of the competition, having won the 60th edition —of 2020—, and recently confirmed his great moment, by revalidating his title last Tuesday and becoming the fourth Guatemalan to win two laps and the first to do so consecutively.
Vásquez, who yesterday was received as a hero in his place of origin, showed his supremacy in a return to Guatemala, which was considered the most difficult in history due to its degree of difficulty due to altimetry, with a lot of high mountains.
With six laps in your career and already having a two-time championship, did you dream of something like this?
I dreamed of winning a stage of the Vuelta a Guatemala, and after doing so I focused on working harder to win one, but now I can say that I have two titles; it is something inexplicable.
What was the key to achieving it?
Busy. At first it was a dream, but thanks to my coach, Bony Pérez, who has been an important person in my career, as well as the support of my entire team, the support of my family who has always been with me, without ruling out all the support and affection that all the people have shown me during this time.
You are now on the privileged list, alongside great cyclists.
That is something that fills me with great pride. I feel very happy to be among the best in history and to be on a par with great figures who have made history. It is something special to say I am a two-time champion, but this is teamwork, this achievement is not only mine, everyone is here, from the managers, the coaching staff to my teammates, with whom we did a great job on the road.
You managed to match what was done by the foreigners Patrocinio Jiménez and Román Villalobos.
It is exciting to know that we have achieved important things by winning this two-time championship in a row, it is something that I set as a goal when we started the season.
At what point did you intend to go fight for the revalidation of the title?
Since I won the stage in Pamezabal. There I was filled with confidence, and after talking with my coach and my team, we decided to do everything possible to take care of the lead until the end of the race.
You finished as the best in the Vuelta, despite having rivals from continental teams.
Yes, the foreign teams that came are very good, with a long distance, but since I became the leader I concentrated on doing my job and keeping the advantage, because I knew that all the rivals were very tough.
Above all, win it with the type of altimetry, which had a lot of mountains.
It was a very tough lap, with a lot of complications, due to the great ascents it had, but it was a great challenge to overcome all those challenges, and here is the result.
This achievement is for all of Guatemala, but Chuatroj was where it was most celebrated.
I am very grateful for the support they give me on the road and for them I strive to give the best of myself, but in my village it is something special, the reception has been very nice and the best thing was being able to bring them the two-time champion trophy, as Thank you for always believing in me.
What comes next for Mordecai?
I’m going to rest a bit and share with my family. Then, start training now with the aim of trying to get to the next Vuelta in the best possible way and defend the title.
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