David Valero (Baza, Granada, 32 years old) lived his glory day on July 26 in Tokyo, where he was awarded the Olympic bronze. A month later, the World Cup arrives in Val di Sole (Italy) where it comes to the fore after its outbreak.
-Carlos Coloma, his ‘boss’ and bronze in Rio, warned him that an Olympic medal would change his life. Have you already noticed something?
-Yes, but the fuss is appreciated for such a result! Being in season I am assimilating it little by little. I have yet to fully savor it.
-At a sporting level, can it be a leap? Do you have to count on Valero for this World Cup?
-Yes, I hadn’t performed at the level I thought I had for a few years. Now they will take me into account more, although in the end we all know each other. Before the Games he had already done good races, fighting for World Cups. Here I am not 100% like in Tokyo because I have not stopped for the medal.
-How is the circuit coming?
-It’s hard, demanding, and I look comfortable, eager. It is a fighting layout. It will be a very open race, with surprises, because there is no longer a clear dominator. In the European (it was 23rd on August 15), with the celebrations, I did not arrive with the step and it was hard for me.
– Did you arrive in Tokyo convinced that you were eligible for a medal?
-The objective of the team was that. We worked a lot, in altitude, the pre-heat acclimatization … And it came out great. But in mountain biking, mechanics, punctures, and you play it all in an hour and a half have a lot to do with it.
-Then, they used phrases by Luis Aragonés to motivate themselves. What are you getting to the World Cup with now?
-Now I have extra motivation! Also calm and confidence in myself because I know that I can achieve great things. It is like going to an exam with everything known ‘from pe to pa’.
-What sensation did you leave to teach the shorts to a legend like Nino Schurter, eight times world champion and who finished fourth?
-Good! Of the 38 runners, all of them had ever beaten him less. It was a special day. When I hooked him I remembered a 2017 World Cup where he beat me to the sprint and I thought ‘I’ll give it back to you today!’
-Now we must also manage the pressure because more results are expected …
-That pressure is already on me. I always do my best and I want to be someone on mountain biking.
-He worked in the fields with his father and told him that he was not going anywhere with the bike. Have you been reminded?
-No … I’ve been a professional for a long time. That job gave me a discipline, education and perseverance that has served me well. I am lucky to dedicate myself to my hobby and it is not difficult for me to go out to train or travel. I feel lucky. The field is harder and is not valued. My father and his two brothers have a cooperative with olive trees, greenhouses for tomatoes and peppers, cereals, and a small calf feedlot, and I spent many hours there.
-What was it like to work as a mechanic at Ciclos Montoya? How did he find time to ride? Because until the age of 22 he did not compete seriously …
-When I was in the field and at six o’clock the power went out in winter, I would go out with a flashlight. And in the store he took advantage of the noon hours or before opening. And Saturday and Sunday at the top. It’s my passion. When they ask me what I do outside the preseason, it’s easy: I ride my bike with my colleagues!
-For how many races have you been claimed already?
– (Snorts) I have a very tight schedule, but I will finish at the beginning of October and surely I can attend a march and enjoy success with people.
-Do you need more teams like BH Templo Cafés, fully professionalized, to make the competitive leap in Spain?
-The support is essential. In Spain there are already three professional mountain bike teams and they are at the forefront, but young people may need a little more push.
-There is a real mountain bike fever in Spain, but perhaps it is not reflected in the audiences, at the competition level. What is lacking?
-There is a lot of popular fans. Who doesn’t have an MTB at home? But there is a lack of television broadcasts, knowledge of the evidence. Now Eurosport has entered and it is being noticed.
-Have you indulged yourself after the medal?
-To be at home with the family for almost a month! Then I will rest a little but in 2022 the qualification for Paris 2024 begins and we have to get the batteries.
-Tattoo is not going to be done?
-I already got one in Rio! Now I have to give it a spin to ‘tune it’ with something cool.
THE PREVIEW: WITHOUT PIDCOCK OR VAN DER POEL
Without Mathieu van der Poel, picking up wounds after his fall in Tokyo, nor the Olympic champion Tom Pidcock, with the Ineos in La Vuelta, the ‘pure’ bikers will be the protagonists this Saturday (Eurosport and Red Bull TV, 15:30) in Val di Sole, where the Dutchman won the last World Cup in 2019. The Swiss Mathias Flueckiger (silver) and Nino Schurter, the Czech Ondrej Cink, the Brazilian Henrique Avancini or the French Victor Koretzky and Jordan Sarrou will be the rivals for David Valero, Sergio Mantecón, Ismael Esteban and Pablo Rodríguez. Rocío del Alba resigned after her accident in Rio.
