Tiago Machado will ride in 2015 for Katusha, after one year with NetApp Endura. He will integrate again the World Tour and will be a centerpiece of the Russian training. This year, he was one of the heroes of the 2014 Tour de France, fighting his way to the finish of stage 10 after a horrific crash. In an interview with Pez Cycling News, he told about his crash.

"It was a normal day, I was sitting 3rd overall on GC in the Worlds biggest bike race and I started on the downhill of the second climb, I think. I followed Paulino of Saxo; he is my friend so I follow him. He almost crashed on the same hole, but I lost the handlebars and after that…kaput!", he explained. Then, "I rode most of the rest of the stage alone, I had the company of my teammate Schilly (Andreas Schillinger), but it was an impossible mission because we knew it was going to be hard to finish in time. But at least we tried and I was lucky that the jury had a good heart and let me finish the Tour."

It was a difficult time to live for the Portuguese runner. "My family, especially my parents because my mum only asked me not to crash, not about victories or the podium, just not to crash. And if I continued, then they would know that I had nothing broken, that’s what encouraged me to keep going."

He will ride with Katusha in 2015: "I don’t think it was only about last year because Eki (Katusha team General Manager Viacheslav Ekimov) and José (DS José Azevedo) knew me from my first years at RadioShack and they understand that a rider can have a not so good year and 2013 was not such a good year for me. I rode for NetApp-Endura in 2014 and then I came back at my level and I’m happy for that. I think José believes in my potential and I want to do my best now." 

But, he doesn’t know his calendar: "I don’t know my calendar yet, we should know by the end of the week and I will try to keep to my progression, like I did last year and try to do everything they want from me, José and Eki, and that’s it."

"To be honest, like I said before, I don’t care about the Tour, I know I can go there because I have done it before, but if they send me to the Giro; I will focus on the Giro or if they send me to the Vuelta, I will focus on the Vuelta, I don’t care. All I want to do is a three week race, I just want to race."

In 2014, he won the Tour of Slovenia overall and finished second at the Vuelta Cyclist a Murcia and third at the Critérium International.