Martínez Chorro, on the podium, with his bronze medal. THOMAS SAMSON (AFP)
Evil beasts complete four full-throttle laps of the Saint Quentin Velodrome in Yvelines, the Paris suburb. What an exhibition of the gluteus maximus, the vastus, the muscles that generate the force that generates the speed, which tears those of Alejandro Martínez Chorro, who degreases the roll stuck in the pelousse. It is the final of the kilometer against the clock (stop start) of the track cycling world championship. Martínez Chorro, Alicante from Sant Vicent del Raspeig, 24 years old, 1.82 m, 90 kilos, “and I’m a cyclist, not a bodybuilder, although people think that’s because of my muscles,” he clarifies, the first of eight came out who deny it. In theory, it should finish eighth, since the start is organized in reverse order to the times of the morning classification.
But something happens.
He secured himself well, with an extra strap, his shoes on the pedals and did something unexpected. He has covered the best kilometer of his life, the best of any Spaniard in history. He has completed the four laps of the soft Siberian pine track in under a minute (59.871s), at more than 60 kilometers per hour (and with a top speed of 70 kilometers per hour two-thirds of the way), a note that until recently only the very good and high were achieved, such as losing four minutes in pursuit of the Grail, and watch as if it were an unbearable suspense film, “and tears came to my eyes when I saw it” , he specifies how, one after another, renowned sprinters, buttock gods, giant, straight, hamstrings, twins of steel, crash into their target without being able to overcome it. They come in thousandths, in hundredths, and there they stay. New Zealander Kergozou and Canadian Hedgcock collide. The Japanese Obara collides and even the German Dornbach collides. There are three left. The medal is approaching and jumping nervously alongside Martínez Chorro, the president of the federation, José Luis López Cerrón, and the coach Félix García Casas, his first world championship at the top of the Spanish circuit.
Martínez Chorro, during her kilometer.ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT (AFP)
The French colossus Melvin Landerneau surpasses him, one of the favourites, surpasses him but only by 303 thousandths and his hopes are rising given the disastrous elimination of the penultimate rival, the Italian Bianchi, who finished over a minute. That’s a medal. It’s bronze. And he knows it is, because only a miracle would stop Dutchman Jeffrey Hoogland, the king of speciality, from breaking the clock. This is done with the best facilities. He wins in 58.106 seconds, more than a second shy of any of his competitors, averaging 61.926 kilometers per hour, and in his fast madness comes close to 80.
At that moment, overcome by emotion, the sprinter from Alicante, the first Spaniard in three decades, won a medal in track races since the days of José Manuel Moreno, 1991 World Champion and 1992 Olympic Champion, also in the kilometer. a specialty that is no longer part of the Olympic program. “For Paris 24, I want to prepare well for Keirin, the test that suits me best after the kilometer because the pure speed test, the individual sprint (200 meters thrown) comes up short for me,” says Martínez Chorro on the phone. “It would be amazing if I could be successful again on this velodrome in two years, but I’m only 24. I don’t know if my games will be Paris or Los Angeles. I have to keep growing and I have time. And now I want to enjoy the moment. No matter what happens, this Saint Quentin velodrome will always be unique to me. I passed the best test of my life, and at a world championship at that.”
At his side, García Casas, previously coach of the Spanish Paralympic cycling team on all surfaces, speaks. The Alicante cyclist tells how the cyclists train at the Valencia Velodrome with Jaume Barber and it’s so hard that he even trained in Cottbus, the German speed factory, the town of Lutz Hesslich, the holy speed monster in East Germany in the 1980s four-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion in the velodrome. “And I was there for a year and I learned a lot,” says the sprinter from Alicante, who at this moment only thinks of his people, his parents, his family, his partner, of all those who suffered with him Besides all those recent months of work including Covid which has seen him arrive at Saint Quentin in the best of shape. “And everyone suffered with me. It’s a very long way, but it’s my personal way.”
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