José Antonio García will race at the Polartec-Kometa continental 2019
The cyclist from Granada, José Antonio García, is the second reinforcement of the Continental Polartec-Kometa for next season. The Fuente-Vaqueros rider promotes the first team from the U23 structure, with which the Andalusian has completed an outstanding season.
With a great speed point, García has been a runner with a great presence throughout the season. Two partial victories in the Vuelta a Zamora, the Clasica Velá de Triana and the final overall of the Challenge Vuelta a Sevilla and another stage in the Vuelta a Salamanca have been the five successes of a rider who does not define himself as a pure sprinter.
“I’m in a cloud,” García said honestly; “when this possibility came up, before the Balenciaga, I couldn’t believe it. For me the Foundation is like a family, I feel very comfortable here. And taking this step is the fulfillment of a dream you always have when you start out in this. I’m very excited; I watched the team in the Vuelta a Burgos on TV and you got a tingle in your stomach; and then you see the Moschetti season and you get more excited. The truth is, this season is going pretty well. And it’s still the same, I think I can be there. When they confirmed it to me I had the peace of mind that it was going to happen, but also pressure: at that time I still didn’t have any victories and I wanted to be able to pass with victories. In the end you take some of the pressure off, but until you win you don’t take it off completely”.
“I think he is a rider who is going to adapt very well to the professional field because of his experience and above all because of his clear ideas, because he knows how to move in the race and even knows how to move the team. Due to the speed that it has, if it continues to progress, I hope it will be a reference in small groups”, endorses Félix García Casas, sports manager of the Alberto Contador Foundation.
Rafa Diaz Justo, director of Polartec-Kometa U23, is one of the men who knows him best: “He is a runner who can have a lot of experience in his career. It is not a pure sprinter, but it passes well the mountain that is close to the finish line or the hard surfaces, difficulties that once overcome leave you with the maximum options because it is very fast. José is a great long-distance runner, he is very good at long-distance running and has the great ability to move in the pack. “I always say to Rafa that if I end up in front it’s because I suffer and I squeeze myself”, he smiles, “I can overcome the half mountain without problems and even in some races I’ve had easier times than the climbers, but these long passes of more than fifteen or twenty minutes are already too much. I’m a fast runner, faster than normal compared to those who pass the climbs and who also gets into sprints with pure sprinters”.
“We have been fortunate that he was trained as a broker in our foundation,” adds Díaz Justo. “He had a bit of a hard adjustment to the new category when he jumped from junior. It wasn’t the best. He also agreed with a team that had a lot of level. When we presented the plan to him for this year, as in 2017 he had scored six races, we thought he could be a great supporter for this season, as he is. We wanted him to lose a little weight so he could get over the mountain better. That change in his physique meant he did many seconds, third place, fourth place…. very good positions, but he didn’t finish finishing”.
García Casas has no doubts about his profile: “For me he is one of the most reliable cyclists in the category over the course of a season, as shown by his ranking, his fight for the Spanish Cup, his victories this year and his versatility. I can only speak wonders of José Antonio. He was already with us in the junior team, then moved to the U23 team and, after a year in another formation, came back to us. He has improved a lot in the mountains, he is able to stay in small groups and win with that speedy pace he has”.
García, popularly known as Joselillo, joins his teammate Daniel Viegas, who was confirmed as the future rider of the Madrid squad at the beginning of August, during the Volta a Portugal race.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
