A summer of velodromes and progress for Joan Martí Bennassar
Joan Martí Bennassar is a great specialist in the fight against the time trial, a discipline in which he won the bronze medal in his category at the last Spanish Championships, and is not only an asphalt rider. The man from Balearic Islands also stand in the velodromes. And during this summer the Mallorcan from the Polartec-Kometa U23 has had a double opportunity to compete with the Spanish national team in the absolute Europeans of Glasgow (Scotland) and in the Europeans U23 held in Aigle (Switzerland).
“I am very grateful to the team, who have given me this opportunity. Having a team like the Polartec-Kometa, which supports you to the maximum on the road and gives you that prize of doing these things on the track, because for me it’s a prize, it’s a wonderful thing. I knew I wasn’t going to win, because there is a lot of level and people train the track specifically with the same dedication as I train the road. But I had a great time and set times I didn’t expect. And now it’s time to think about the Vuelta a Valencia”, explains the Spaniard.
Martí Bennassar has been riding in the velodromes all his life, but he has been competing since he was a second-year cadet. His test is individual pursuit, although he also competes in team pursuit. “The track in the Balearic Islands is a discipline that is practiced a lot. There are facilities, such as the high-performance centre or the Palma Arena, and also schools, such as Joan Llaneras’, with school-compatible timetables. I’ve been on the track since I was a kid and I’ve been competing three years in a row. Mallorca is a perfect place for the track,” he says.
Marratxí’s first one competed with the national team in the Glasgow Europeans. “Of course it’s one of the most professional competitions in the world of the track, the most pro I’ve ever done before. I competed with Filippo Ganna, with Ivo Oliveira,… I’m very happy. I did 4:31.931, which was a target. Going below 4:30 was difficult and more so because it was my first test of chase over 4 kilometers. The team event didn’t go so well, but I ended up very happy anyway”.
After the Scottish multi-sport event (several federations organised their championships for continental titles at the same venue), Martí Bennassar was invited to attend the European Championships of his category, which were held in Aigle, Switzerland, home of the International Cycling Union. “There we did consider going below 4:30, because we were competing on a shorter velodrome, 200 metres long, where you have to do more laps, you have more time on superelevation and it is supposed to be easier and faster, although you have to give pedals the same, and we went with the idea of doing it very well”, he remembers.
“In the first few laps I kept up the pace, I was riding at an average of 12 seconds 8 thousandths per lap, and in the last five laps I squeezed. With two laps to go the coach told me he was going for 4:26, and on the last lap he gave it his all. I finished in 4:25.749. It’s more than fine for me, I didn’t expect it, one pass, I felt great. I came out with a 58×16 development, the same one I used in junior. The reference I had in that category, about 3 kilometers, was 3:24 and here I passed that distance with 3:19. In other words, there is a lot of improvement, and if I continued, I would improve more. This was done without really specific training”, he remembers about achieving his best personal best.
Martí Bennassar will be competing in the Vuelta a Valencia in a few days: “I think I’ve had a good season and now Valencia is coming, with a time of 20 kilometres that can be good for me, like the race itself, also with not excessively hard stages”.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
