Rocio del alba garcia

03 – rocío del alba garcia – chatting with hermida

I had a moment when I was about to give up cycling and, honestly, crossing paths with Carlos Coloma was what made me keep on cycling. I didn’t expect to be where I am and if it wasn’t for him I probably wouldn’t have achieved everything I have achieved.
I think that having those nerves in their right measure is good because it means that you want to be there and do well. When I think about the Olympic Games many things go through my mind: ambition, desire, nerves, concentration. I’m also calm so that they don’t play a trick on me and I’m looking forward to the Olympic Games.
What I want most is not to play a trick on me the acclimatization to the schedule and the climate there, with a lot of heat and humidity. We will run at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and it is key that the body is well, to withstand the heat and humidity, and I hope to make a good start, that does not condition me, and that I have a great day.
In the end it is very different because there are only 38 riders, the best riders from each country and some of these countries will not be able to bring all their top riders. It’s going to be a very limited grid, with few participants, and that opens up the race a bit.

meet carlos coloma and rocío del alba garcía.

On the other hand, in the U-23 category will be Nuria Bosch, Lucía Gómez, Jofre Cullell -who also participated in Tokyo 2020-, Iván Feijóo and David Campos, while in the junior category the representatives are Francesc Barber -sixth in the European Championship-, Aniol Morell, Edurne Izcue and Sara Méndez.
The competition starts on Wednesday with the team relay race, on Thursday the junior XCO races will take place, while on Saturday the U-23 XCO races will take place in the morning session and the elite races in the afternoon session, leaving for Sunday all the downhill races.

rocío del alba garcía | open spain xco champion 2018

Overall the balance of the weekend has been very positive. Already from the Short Track I was fighting for the first row, a pity that arriving at the finish line the front group left me and I suffered a mishap. I fell and I could not get up quickly and rejoin the bike, entering in ninth position. Second row for Sunday’s race and I went out for everything in a circuit that I love. I knew I was in great shape, although the main goal is Tokyo, but I knew I could do a good competition and therefore I am very happy with the race I did and especially the good feelings.
Actually MTB has always been my start. I started with the bike participating in the Open de Madrid, later I tried road and cyclocross disciplines, but where it all started was in mountain biking and so I have continued until now. Since I met Carlos Coloma I bet on it and I don’t regret it.
We had already met in several races, but it was at the Unibike cycling fair where our paths crossed. I went to congratulate him on his Olympic medal at the Rio Games in 2016, we discussed my situation and our paths came together, until now.

rocio del alba garcía, selected junior for the world championship

The Primaflor Mondraker Rotor rider showed from the start her ambition to climb the podium, remaining practically throughout the race in third position, stalking at times the second and first place that would be for the Italian Marika Tovo and the Swiss Sina Frei respectively.
In the U23 men’s category the national representatives were the Catalans Jofre Cullell and Josep Durán. With a great start, Cullell was able during the first laps to stay in the leading positions, even placing second after the second lap, but from then on the Catalan was losing steam, dropping some position lap by lap to finish 13th.
The Austrian Laura Stigger would become the new European champion of the modality after dominating with solvency from start to finish, marking a total time of 1 hour, 5 minutes and 7 seconds.
Finally, Barros would be 27th; and Carlos Canal, 30th. The winner at the finish line with a time of 1 hour, 11 minutes and 48 seconds was the Swiss Alexandre Balmer, an all-rounder cyclist who recently also finished second in the European Junior Road Championships.