David Valero: “I want to go to the Paris Games for my merits”

The one from Granada David ValeroSpanish mountain bike champion, has prepared in recent months to face a season in which to reach the Olympic Games It was his great goal, but he stated that he wanted it to be for his “merit this year”, not for what he had “achieved before”, and he said that he was “prepared for that “.

The Olympic medalist in Tokyo He presented himself on Thursday with the rest of his team, the BH Coloma Teamin Logroño, in an event where he became the center of attention, because he is the great reference of Spanish mountain biking and one of the best specialists in the world, despite the end of the previous season which was unfortunate for him.

“The preseason was long and calm,” the Andalusian runner explained to EFE, stressing that his “batteries are fully charged” and that he has certainly left “an end of the season where the something didn’t work and we later found out that there was a viral problem that I got over.

He remembers the last months of the last campaign with frustration “I wanted to be well but I saw that I couldn’t and it caused doubts and uncertainty, especially because I didn’t know what was going on” but “helped to rest is mine. and I already have the optimal sensations.” for a start”.

Valero, who led his sport’s world rankings for almost a year, is now in 27th place “but I’m just a few points away from being one of the top twenty and that’s my short-term goal” though “then I’m longing for more” but “I didn’t think too much about it, all I wanted was to regain the sensation and I’ve already achieved it.”

The BH runner is not sure of his presence in the Olympic Games “and that is why the first thing is to make good races in the World Cup” to enter the Spanish list “on his own merits and for being able to give the his best in that race.”

“They would be my last Games and I am very excited, but I am also very motivated to try to arrive with several teammates,” he stated, since there are four other BH cyclists who have a chance (Jofre Cullell, Rocío del Alba García , Catriel Soto in Argentina and Raquel Queiros in Portugal) and he is also “excited to try to help them get there too.”

One of the riders he mentioned is Jofre Cullel, who will face his second season in BH although he already has the responsibility as a cyclist with the level to approach the best specialists in the world; The Catalan cyclist wants to confirm the good feelings with which he finished last year “and that’s what I prepared, to start well and arrive in good condition for the World Cup in April,” he explained to EFE.

“I feel good, I have worked hard these months and I know it will pay off,” explained the BH rider, who believes that it is “lucky and an honor” for him to have “a teammate like David Valero, from the that I’m always learning things” that will help him get one of the places in Spain for the Olympic Games, “something I prepared myself for, because my goal is to go to Paris.”

However, he assumed that “in the first months of this season you shouldn’t do that as pressure either, it’s worse and it can play with me” and that’s why “you also have to have a certain calm for in things you go well.”

One of the main novelties of the BH Coloma Team for this season is the signing of the Portuguese champion Raquel Queiros who, like Valero, has almost “on track” his presence in Paris and has given the Spanish team a “leap” to advance within the international platoon.

“I am very happy that a team like this has given me this opportunity, because I am a runner who has a lot to learn and here, with the teammates I have, I can do it,” explained the Portuguese, who -thinking that “I will have more responsibility” and “I will fight to do it well, with the Olympic Games as the main goal,” he concluded.