The worst year of Spanish cycling since the Civil War: "We are left behind"

• Roglic, the elder brother holding back the daring children of the new generation

• Opinion: The gradual decline of Spanish cycling

In 2008, Spanish cycling reached its historic peak.

Carlos Sastre won the Tour;

Alberto Contador the Giro, the Vuelta and the Itzulia;

Alejandro Valverde la Lieja, the Dauphiné and the Clásica de San Sebastián;

Samuel Sánchez the Olympic gold;

Oscar Freire la Gante-Wevelgem;

Gustavo César Veloso the Volta;

and José Ivan Gutiérrez the Eneco Tour.

An overwhelming dominance of the international calendar for a total of

, 30 of them general and 62 partial.

In 2020, 12 after that, Spanish cycling has hit rock bottom.

He has only achieved 17 victories, 15 of them partial and two in second and third level day races.

In the World Tour calendar, the one that groups the most important races, there are only

: Iván García Cortina in the Paris-Nice and Marc Soler and Ion Izagirre in the Vuelta.

In the second level, the Pro races, the balance is not better: Gorka Izagirre won the Gran Trittico Lombardo and Gonzalo Serrano a stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía.

For the first time since 1937, during the Civil War,

.

And only for the fourth time since 1955 -year in which the annual celebration of the Vuelta was resumed-, Spain has not been represented on the Giro, Tour or Vuelta podium.

The previous precedents are 2017, 2011 - Juanjo Cobo won the Vuelta and Alberto Contador the Giro, but sanctions for doping erased their names from the record - and 1965.

But it is not necessary to go so far to corroborate the decline into which Spanish cycling has plunged in 2020. In the last decade, Spain had achieved a minimum of

, reaching 33 victories in 2012. The Last year, 2019, the number of triumphs rose to 13, including the general ones of the Tour of the Basque Country (Ion Izagirre) of the exotic Tour of Guangxi (Enric Mas).

In a year, 10 less.

Withdrawal of references

And it is true that 2020 has been a special year due to the pandemic, but even considering the days of competition, the conclusion remains unchanged.

Between World Tour and Pro races there have been

-among them those of Catalonia, the Basque Country and the San Sebastián Classic-, while the number of victories has fallen by 80% with respect to the average of the previous five seasons.

The accounts do not come out.

The withdrawal of those of

together with the logical decline of the already veteran Valverde or Luis León Sánchez help explain the downturn experienced by Spanish cycling.

The new referents such as Enric Mas and Mikel Landa are good voltomaniacs, but they lack the finishing ability of their predecessors.

“Movistar has had a bad year [only two victories] and outside of that there are only half a dozen high-level riders.

In the end, the quantity and quality of victories is directly related to the tickets on the table and in Spain we have been with a single World Tour team for many years, ”says Markel Irizar, a professional for 16 years.

But there are more underlying reasons.

«There is a problem at the base, the training has not been worked as it should in recent years while other countries like the United Kingdom have invested a lot of money in recent years.

We are left behind ”, laments

another of the leaders of the golden age.

An opinion with which Irizar agrees: «We need professionals in the federations, people with knowledge who charge for doing technical work and not who dedicate their free time to them.

Just as I pay for my children's English classes, I will have to pay for them to run in a cycling club and receive professional and quality training.

If we want competitiveness, we have to pay for it, be it parents or institutions ».

In the short term, Irizar also points out another key factor for the results of Spanish cycling in 2020:

.

“In Spain it was very strict, only doing roller at home, while in Holland, Belgium or Denmark they were able to continue cycling for six hours a day.

And that has been noticed, it is as if the Spanish had been injured and their rivals had not.

The good news for Spanish cycling is that next year

, Movistar on the World Tour together with Caja Rural, Burgos, Euskaltel, Kern Pharma and Eolo -from the Contador Foundation- in Pro Tour, after the jump taken for these last two squads.

An opportunity for Spanish cycling to begin to recover from the worst moment in its history.

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