To carlos rodriguez It was the Itzulia. To Raul Garcia Leg it was the Nationals time trial. And Juan Ayuso left his mark in one pass Tour of Spain in which he climbed to the third step of the podium at the age of 19, the second youngest in all of history to achieve it in a grand tour. The three are the new reality of Spanish cycling, every time finished the cycle of the Purito, Contador and Valverde, the one that is called to bring many joys to a fans hungry for success. But also, in a few years, it will be necessary to take into account the names of several runners who point out ways from the base and whose DNA oozes cycling. They are the sons of two legends: Joseba Beloki and Óscar Freire.
the achievements of Markel (17 years old) and frames (16) in lower categories have not gone unnoticed by the great World Tour teams, which has led both to complete paths concentrations this winter with Movistar and the UAE Team Emirates, respectively. “Since Marcos is now a junior, what better thing for him to be with us, he is a good boy. I was Óscar’s manager, I helped him to take the step to professionals, he helped me when I arrived at Mapei … In addition, he is a runner with a good perspective: he has run 21 days and has won 9 ”, explains to AS Joxean Fernández Matxin, supporter of Marcos’ talent, about the well-deserved opportunity offered from the Emirati squad to the son of his great friend.
As they say, like father like son, so the case of Marcos is no exception in relation to the conditions shown by his father in his professional days. “He is a complete boy. He has won a time trial and is fast, a bit of his father’s style, although he also passes the ports well”, confesses the UAE manager, in addition to adding other similarities with good old Óscar: “Having more room for progression than his father is complicated, although he is not so clueless (laughs). It is very lively and has many good things. He can be a pretty fast runner, the speed tip has it. Here he has done sprints with a partner and it was not out of place. Too He is very smart, he has very good career vision”.
Time and his merits will tell if he ends up making the leap to the professional elite at the hands of the UAE, but what his top manager does not hide is that he is on the radar of future incorporations after living with his idols in the training camp from La Nucía: “My greatest intention was for him to see that Pogacar, Almeida or Ayuso, are all normal people, like him, who have nothing stratospheric. Even though they are idols, he had to see that he can become like them. We follow him closely because he has the level, otherwise he could not have taken him to a team of the UAE category. He has the quality and is where he is on his own merits. He has been the dominator in 2022 of many races and he deserved the opportunity ”.
The ‘Beloki legacy’ will continue
A few kilometers from there, in Alfaz del Pi, Markel Beloki showed the quality that Movistar treasures. For six days, the young talent of the MMR Cycling Academy He shared training with what may be his teammates in the future. “Runners this young are yet to be discovered. He has a fairly climbing profile, complete, a runner who can be in line with the general classifications. Of course, he is not a sprinter, he is not a particularly fast runner. He has more resistance and climbing conditions ”, Patxi Vila analyzed AS about the characteristics of a Markel who, as might be expected, shows similarities with his father, Joseba: “The direction could be that. As we all do a little, try to be like our parents or even that they guide us to where they have done best in life. Physically and physiologically I think he is a fairly long-lined kid, quite tall (more than 1.80 m) and a good plant on top of the bike. His technical level as a cyclist is quite developed, with good knowledge of what it is to be a cyclist. Beyond having good genetics, which is assumed to be the son of who he is, it was more about seeing his personality to see if he fits into modern cycling. How many times have we seen great qualities, but an attitude towards the task that is not adequate and that ends without great results or intermittently. We are looking for something more, someone who fits our philosophy”.
In that aspect, the feedback What Markel transmitted to the team was tremendously positive, so the experience was most satisfactory. “He was comfortable. The group welcomed him with open arms. He is very young and you have to take care of him. We put him in a room with people with experience, I think Verona, ‘Rojillas’ or one of these veterans, to get him on the right track and that his stay with us had more juice. From what I spoke with him, he was very happy and very comfortable. He felt very integrated, ”says the head of performance of the telephone group, in addition to confirming, how could it be otherwise, that the young Beloki is on the squad’s agenda for the future: “If we start something, it is generally to give it continuity. First, because it is Spanish and from what we have been seeing, we will have to follow this path. We have not started it so that it ends up in a concentration in December 2022. We will continue in contact with him and we will follow him closely, helping him in whatever way we can. We will see the future, in case he is comfortable and both parties win.” Honor deserves who resembles his own…