In 2016,

Pascual Momparler

summoned the best under

23s

for the Carrera de la Paz, a test held in the Czech Republic, the best under 23 players.

Enric Mas

,

Iván García Cortina

,

Sergio Samitier

,

Jon Irisarri

,

José Manuel Díaz

and

Jaume Sureda

were on that roster.

. Splendid vision of the future of the Spanish coach: five are in the elite, only the last one decided to leave cycling. The first three are active in Movistar, the fourth in Caja Rural, the fifth has been lost for four years in modest teams, but this Sunday he became the winner of the Tour of Turkey (he also won the queen stage). The first Spanish victory in a stage round in the last two years. In 2019

Izagirre

scored the Tour of the Basque Country, and more, the Tour of Guangxi. An honor for a modest man who has had to make a living abroad. No Spanish team trusted him. An outlaw who has unexpectedly sneaked into center stage.

But who is José Manuel Díaz? He is a 26-year-old from Jaén who has never had it easy. He trained at the modest Bicycles Rodríguez de Extremadura, where he excelled as a climber. In 2016 he was awarded the Valenciaga Memorial, ahead of

Richard Carapaz

, and a year later he was hired by the Academy of Israel. In 2019 he went to the Austrian group Vorarlberg (continental category) and last year he went to the French Delko (second division), where he has risen to notoriety. Until this week, his professional resume included only one stage in the 2020 Tour of Rwanda. “All that José Manuel has achieved is because he has trusted himself. Others would have given up, but he has followed. He's good, I know him well because I called him up on several occasions when I was an under-23 coach. He was always a prop, "explains Momparler, current senior Spanish coach.

Díaz comes from a modest family in Jaén that instilled in him the value of work.

On Sunday, before taking the podium in the round in Turkey, he congratulated his teammates on their work throughout the week: "Thank you for not throwing in the towel."

«He is a humble boy.

When he was in the Austrian team, he had to pay for everything himself, "adds Momparler, who defines the Delko rider as the traditional Spanish prototype, the one who enjoys climbing and suffers on time trials.

"I believe that the Spanish teams have not finished trusting José Manuel because he has lacked regularity, that quality that he must now enhance," adds the coach.

José Manuel Díaz acknowledges that he still has room for improvement, he does not want to rush and appeals to prudence.

"Not all of us are like

Bernal

, who won the Tour when he was 21 years old, I am slower," stressed the young Andalusian outlaw.

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