It is 25 years since Iván Gutiérrez’s triumph at the Treviso World Championships and Spanish cycling is celebrating with another Iván, Iván Romeo, a 21-year-old from the Valladolid neighbourhood of Las Mercedes, who turned 21 in August, on top of the podium at the U23 World Championships time trial next to Lake Zurich, wearing a rainbow jersey and a gold medal hanging from his neck. In the tradition of other Spanish giants, masters of the time trial, Miguel Indurain and Abraham Olano. At his side, close on the stage but far away on the road, were the other medallists, also giants, close to 1.90m, the new breed of cycling in which the youngest are getting better and better, the Swede Jakob Söderqvist, second, 32s behind, and the Swiss Jan Christen, another of the UAE’s young phenomena, third, 41s behind.
Romeo’s victory, 30 kilometres on the slopes of the lake outside Zurich, completed in 36m 42s, was due to the work of the technicians of his team, Movistar WorldTour, as well as his personal commitment and that of his family. “Maybe for some it was a surprise, but, to be honest, not for me. I have worked so hard to achieve it…”, says Romeo, so happy on the “happiest day” of his life that even on the podium he finds it difficult not to laugh while the anthem is playing. And he thinks above all of his family, of his father who saved a week of vacation to be with him the last 10 days in Zurich, helping him with everything, following him in training, helping him to recognize the route, and is even at his side, behind the cameras at the hot seat (the chair where the three best at any given time follow the course of the race). “The route suited me perfectly, the climbs were gentle, the descents were smooth. We had organised the pacing to make a difference in the final stage and I followed the plan to the letter, but I didn’t think I would have so much power at the end.”
The final stretch was a dizzying 9,400 metres, which Romeo started with the second best time and flew over, that is the verb, in 9m 55s, 25s less than the Swede, 39s less than the Dane, and 59s less than the Belgian Alec Segaert, the big favourite (the Lotto rider had been second in the last two World Championships), who had posted the best time at kilometre 20.5 and finished fourth. “During those last 10 kilometres, a lot of things were piling up in my head. I was thinking about my whole family, about everyone who has been close to me, the best group in the world, and I was telling myself, the pain doesn’t matter, go hard, go hard, five kilometres, four, three…”, explains Romeo, a great promise of Spanish cycling, whose progress in time trials also owes a lot to the work of his team, Movistar, his performance engineer, Iván Velasco, the aerodynamic studies, the material that makes the difference. “Today I am happy, very happy,” says Velasco. “Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t, but the plan we had drawn up was perfect, because we knew that the key was in the final stretch.”
Romeo’s triumph is also a reflection of the changes in Spanish cycling, which is already looking to the future and which promises great joy for fans at the World Championships in Zurich. Young and talented riders are arriving, and behind Romeo, on Tuesday itself, the Navarrese Paula Ostiz, aged 17, recent European junior time trial champion and one of the favourites for the World Championships, is expected. On Thursday, in the men’s junior road World Championships, the Alicante native from Alfàs del Pi will be joined by Héctor Álvarez, number one in the world rankings, alongside Benidorm, and on Friday, in the under-23 road race, Pablo Torres, the phenomenal climber from Vicálvaro.
