David Martín moves up to the professional ranks with EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team

Sevillian David Martín Romero is the second incorporation of the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team for the next two seasons. The rider from Mairena de Aljarafe, with a sprinter profile, comes from the U23 structure of the Contador Foundation, in which he has competed in the last two seasons under Rafa Díaz Justo management. Martín (19 February 1999) makes the leap after having been one of the most outstanding riders of the category in the Spanish scene, backed by four victories and several other notable positions.

“To this day I still can’t quite believe it, I think about it and I still get goose bumps. It’s a unique, magical feeling. It’s something I’ve been waiting for since I was a little boy. It’s a dream I’ve had since I started mountain biking”, describes a happy Martín. “The road to get here is very hard. For me and my family to reach professionalism is a very important achievement. Without them it wouldn’t have been possible. Of course also without all my teammates who have supported me over the years, and especially my teammates this season. This 2021 season has perhaps been the most beautiful I have experienced in the U23 category. It has been because we have done very nice things, but above all because we have made a lot of friends among my teammates. Many of them are like family to me. This opportunity would not have been possible without the help of my family and friends, they are also part of this dream that is coming true and that’s why I want them to participate by taking advantage of this opportunity, not 100%, but 110%”.

In 2021, four triumphs. Two of them, Valladolid and Ontur, in the Spanish Cycling Cup (Copa de España Élite y Sub23). And a multitude of very good opposites throughout the campaign. “David is a very interesting rider,” says U23 team manager Rafa Díaz Justo. “He is a very fast cyclist, but above all what both Carlos Barredo and I think is that he still has a long way to go. He is a pure sprinter capable of passing certain mountains with relative ease. What mountains? That has to be polished in the pros, which is a totally different universe at those levels. But we mustn’t confuse ourselves with him, he’s not a cyclist with a climbing profile. Before David came to the Foundation, we were watching him for quite some time. He had already done some places in important races, but what impressed me above all was his ability to recover ground in a moment of fans in a hilly area that we experienced in a stage of a Vuelta a Palencia. It was a spectacle to see him riding between groups, with what gas. That same day I called Barredo to tell him that there was a rider, David, who had left me speechless”.

The Andalusian began his cycling career in mountain biking, a modality in which he won the overall final of the Spanish Open in the cadet category, as well as the national runner-up position. From 2019 he focused on road cycling with Team Extremadura. Two seasons later, he joined the U23 team of the Contador Foundation. “I will never forget the moment when they told me that they wanted me for the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team. I remember every moment, every detail: I was walking down the street with my girlfriend when Ivan Basso called me to tell me that they wanted me. I started to tremble and even some tears came to my eyes. I couldn’t believe it. Then Fran Contador called me to tell me that they were counting on me, that it was no joke, and then I really believed it”. Martin had been one of the three riders chosen to form as stagiaires during the second part of the season, but unfortunately his debut could not materialize neither in the Circuit de Gexto, where his presence was foreseen, nor in the Gran Piemonte. “It was perhaps the worst thing about this season, the only but I can say about the year. I would have liked to have made my debut, but first because of the COVID-19 and then because of a fall in Ronde de l’Isard that caused a crack in the radius of my left arm, it was not possible. That’s how this sport is. When these inconveniences happen, the only thing left to do is to face them and move forward; that’s all there is to it”.

Martín Romero has been closely following the sporting developments of the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team and has really enjoyed the development of their season. “Seen from a distance, the ProTeam’s season has been remarkable. The first season in the category and there have been important victories. Just the victory of Lorenzo Fortunato in the Giro d’Italia would be enough. But there is also the great season of Vincenzo Albanese, for example. From the outside, it has been possible to see how a team that is in theory a minor team has put fear into the big teams. And that has to be appreciated and respected. The team’s second signing for 2022 also stands out for his discipline and his capacity for work, alternating in past seasons the competition with his work in a shop in the town of Bormujos. “I would love to race Paris-Roubaix one day. And of course to win it. It would be a dream come true”, he said the day his arrival to the U23 team was announced. David Martin joins Diego Rosa in the plot of novelties of the second project ProTeam of the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team.

[ C.C. Onturense (2), Cxcling / Vuelta a Castellón (3, 5), Vuelta a Extremadura (4)]