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His little face as a child, his tall stature and his blond blondes clash with the wrinkles and dark tone of the majority of members of the Spanish cycling team that landed in Harrogate (United Kingdom) on Friday to reconquer the gold of Innsbruck . Iván García Cortina is the loose verse of a group designed to clothe Alejandro Valverde. It is the squire and the alternative of the current owner of the rainbow jersey. If the 'grandfather' fails on Sunday's appointment, he would be there, ready to battle those enemies eager to dethrone the champion.

The Asturian kid (23 years old) opens in an elite World Cup, but the challenge does not scare him, on the contrary it motivates him, because he has fulfilled a goal and because the route, with permanent steepness , but not excessively hard, favors him. The coach Pascual Momparler (another rookie in the team's leadership) has summoned him to learn, but also to show that boldness that characterizes the new generation of runners, that in which, among others, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, the Dutch Mathieu van del Poel, the Colombian Egan Bernal or the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar. García Cortina, who is passionate about the Tour of Flanders and the Paris-Roubaix, is the Spanish classic with more potential for the future.

The gijonés is very reliable in the plain, a rodent that develops with ease in the middle mountain, but the weakest climber of those summoned by Momparler. In Baharin Merida he has worked as a pitcher for Jonny Colbrelli and as a squire for Vincenzo Nibali. It is versatile as few and does not set limits. It adds 16 years less than Valverde. The kid seems to be the godson of a formation full of veterans, all over the age of 30, except Marc Soler (25). The 39 of Valverde are followed by 35 by Imanol Erviti and Luis León Sánchez, 34 by José Joaquín Rojas, 32 by Jonathan Castroviejo, 31 by Gorka Izagirre and 30 by his brother Ion. A lot of experience.

García Cortina is distinguished by the physiognomy and also by the cradle. It is the only one that has not been related to the Movistar team structure of the group leader. The only squire of Valverde that has not gone through the board of Eusebio Unzué . Therefore, the concentration of the team in Alicante has served as a great method of integration. "They have been very good days to make equipment, to make pineapple, and at the same time train very well to arrive in a good condition to the World Cup," he said shortly before leaving the sunny Levantine city and arriving at the rainy Harrogate.

The pipiolo is respectful of the chevrons, in the promotional photos of the Spanish team always appears in the second row, a shyness that disappears as soon as he goes out to the road to sacrifice himself for the collective, but also to give pranks and little horses to the spectators. And it is that for him cycling is a passion, as happens to the incombustible Valverde. El Bala, as a reference to the loose verse of the Spanish team.

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