Pablo García: overcoming adversity
It’s 23rd June. In the last four kilometres of the Spanish Championship, a group of nine riders is chasing Álex Aramburu (Movistar), among them a single non-professional rider, Pablo García (known in the bunch as ‘Garchu’) on his way to wear the elite champion’s jersey. Trying to avoid another cyclist on a roundabout Garchu goes to the ground and breaks his collarbone.
It’s 13th September. The second stage of the Volta a Galicia is underway. After great work by the team, Antonio González and ‘Garchu’ are leading the race with two other riders. Last kilometre, Antonio launches the sprint, ‘Garchu’ overtakes him, shows his speed and wins.
Pablo García (Madrid, 2001) has shown during the 2024 season, his first with the team, that his physical capacity was always accompanied by a commitment to cycling and meticulous discipline. After four years as an under-23 and one as an elite, as well as brief experiences as a staggiere with Caja Rural or BAI-Sicasal, he will be a professional for the next two seasons with Team Polti Kometa.
Miguel Gómez, director of the under-23 team, has accompanied Pablo during several races of the season and emphasizes, once again, the perseverance of the rider from Madrid: ‘We must value the learning that he has given to other riders and he has also seen what he could do himself. I am not referring to the Spanish championship, which was also difficult, but to the Memorial Valenciaga, how the race was going for the team and for him personally, selecting the race going uphill, and on the descent of Elgeta, the radio showed us that we had a rider on the left of the road. 14 days later came the best results of the season… it’s very valuable to keep going, to trust and believe’.
Garchu completed the full four year cycle as an under-23 rider and joined the team in his first year as an elite rider. This is how he describes his experience with the team, which for now will last at least two more seasons: ‘From my time with the amateur team, I would like to highlight the professionalism with which all the members of the project work and the way they treat the riders is exquisite. You feel that they give you everything you need so that you can focus on performing and achieving all your objectives. It has been a pleasure to work with such serious people and to feel that everything is really in your hands. I would like to thank Rafa for the confidence he gave me from the first moment and he has played a very important role in my evolution as a cyclist and in my move to the pros. I’m sure that the way he has treated me he has treated so many other cyclists and I think he does a job that is often not appreciated’.
During the past week, the pro team travelled to Malta for one of the team’s regular training camps in the country. Among them, the two recent cyclists who promoted from the U-23 team, Gabriele Raccagni and Pablo García: ‘In Malta we have spent a very entertaining week with team building activities such as kayak races, zip lines… Also the important institutional visits to the sponsor, as well as the welcome to the team and the presentation of the project and staff. It has been a very positive week where again I have found a close group in which from mechanics to colleagues and Fran and Ivan themselves have been attentive to us’.
In his first season as a professional cyclist Garchu will be looking to make a place for himself in the bunch and try to develop his enormous qualities: ‘In the short term the first thing I want is to find my place in the team and in the bunch and once I have those two objectives secured and worked on, to focus on my strengths as a cyclist and try to develop them as much as possible to reach my maximum potential. I am sure that I have room for improvement, I have not wanted to professionalize the lower categories and there are many things that I have not implemented in my way of working and I think that when I do it, will be steps that I will be able to go up in my level. A dream I would like to fulfil, which goes beyond a tangible objective, would be to win a stage in one of the Grand Tours’.
Outstanding results:
2024
- 1st Rutas Xacobeas-Padrón (Copa de España)
- 1st Copa de España Vigo
- 1st stage 1 Vuelta a Extremadura
- 1st stage 4 Circuito Montañes
- 1st stage 2 Volta a Galicia
- 1º points classification Vuelta a Extremadura
- 2nd stage 4 Volta a Galicia
- 3rd Volta a Galicia
- 3rd Circuito Montañes
- 5th Vuelta a Extremadura
- 7th Vuelta a Salamanca
