Rui Costa has spoken about wearing the Rainbow Jersey, saying the infamous “Curse of the Rainbow Jersey” doesn’t exist, but the extra pressure and responsibility that comes with it does.

Costa only one once in the Rainbow Jersey in 2014, taking the final stage of the Tour de Suisse and the GC with it. He was regularly up challenging at the biggest races (as shown by his fourth place in the UCI WorldTour), but he found himself on the podium at events like Pris-Nice, Volta ao Algarve, Tour of Romandie, GP Montreal and Il Lombardia.

“The problem of rainbow jersey is not that it is jinxed or has a curse. I think the problem is that it is a huge responsibility because you become a person with whom everyone wants to talk,” he told MARCA.

“Being world champion means you spend a lot of time on these things and [still] take take hours to train and to be with the family.”

He says now he has lost the jersey, he hopes to focus on turning the podiums of 2014 into wins in 2015, and he says he is much calmer than he was at this point last season.

“I’ve tried to do it in the most professional way and now that I do not [have the jersey] I am calmer, more focused on doing things right, which is very important to me. That is why I think this year will be calmer for me.”