Oscar Freire’s Theory Why Spain Didn’t Have a Cavendish: ‘We’re Missing a Foundation’ | Relief
There are places that make athletes great, and there are athletes that make places great. The small municipality of Saint-Voulbat (1,200 inhabitants, a gigantic industrial area and a nuclear power plant) will forever remain in the history of the Tour de France because this Wednesday Mark Cavendish claims his 35th Grand Boucle winsurpassing Eddy Merckx’s result (34) which he managed to match with equal pomp just three years ago and was the culmination of an incomparable sporting career. This series of victories in the Tour, added to 17 victories in the Giro and three in the Vuelta, plus his world championship in Copenhagen and his Milan-San Remo, make him one of the best sprinters in history, if not the best.
Among Spanish cyclists, the top scorers in partial victories are Miguel Indurain (12), Luis Ocaña (9) and Federico Martin Bahamontes (7). Three men who won the overall title: three become dependentanother climber like Bahamontes and a few more rollers like Indurain and Ocaña, but by no means speed prodigies like the British cyclist or even the Belgian “Cannibal”.
To find historical records of Spanish sprinters capable of achieving success in the Tour de France, need to go back to Oscar Freire with four victories achieved between 2002 and 2008.the year in which he managed to win the only green jersey in history. Only Miguel Poblet, with three victories in 1955 and 1956, is at his historical height in the Grand Boucle. Other victories by Spaniards in mass performances are specific cases, such as the victory of the Asturian Manuel Jorge Dominguez in Troyes in 1987. Why, in all its rich cycling history, has Spain not produced more sprinters?
In Relevo we turn to several authorities to find possible answers; nothing like Oscar Freire (1976, Torrelavega).”It’s a question of tradition and travel.“, – the Cantabrian says. – The training at the base is very good. However, Once you become a cadet, you only see hard racing, and that requires very little sprint work.“It’s very different from Belgium or the Netherlands, where a lot of the lower-category racing is on flat terrain, which encourages the riders and sprinters.”
Freire speaks not only of his own experience, but also of that of his son Marcos, who played for the Batco team as a teenager and surpassed his father in quality.”He is very good at sprinting, but he needs to improve on the climbs.“, he says. “When you advance in the category and reach another type of calendar, you will be able to express yourself more in the ‘volats’. At the moment, he needs to improve in all areas. It’s a shame, because I see how cadets are already adding some slopes with 20% ramps to their tracks.“.
“There is no flat racing here,” agrees Luis Leon Sanchez, another prominent figure in Spanish cycling whose history includes four Tour de France stage wins, all of which came via escapes.Any organizer strives to make at least one tack so that the race is disrupted.. This way, only the cyclists who climb the hills are singled out… and therefore, The few sprinters who turn professional in Spain are not pure sprinters.“I hope that gradually the situation will change, just as a few years ago we didn’t have riders who could shine in the classics, and now we have some great riders.”
One of the best technicians in Spanish cycling, a senior official of the UCI WorldTour team, explains this by how the professional calendar is reflected in the amateur calendar and in the dreams of the riders themselves.There are very few races in Spain that a sprinter can win.and in other countries, such as Italy or even France, the panorama is completely different,” he reflects. Today None of the brightest prospects on the national team fit the profile of a pure sprinter.. We will have to continue to wait for the new Freire to appear.