Think about the last good cycling story you heard, the one that captivated you from the start. The one you like to remember, even to tell your riding buddies.

Do you have one? Well, I highly doubt it's even close to the one I'm going to reproduce here today. Its author is Jose Almagro Valero , a Madrid native living in Las Rozas with plenty of miles under his belt, whether on a bike or in sneakers.

A professional cyclist in the 2005 and 2006 seasons with the Relax Fuenlabrada team, he is currently a duathlete and triathlete, primarily long-distance. He also holds a degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences , is a National Cycling Coach, a Personal Trainer , and the founder and director of the Triathlon Club ( 3 Style Triatlón ).

Here's the link to their website and the blog post I've reproduced below. I recommend you visit them because they have a lot of interesting sports content.

Without further ado, here is the article, enjoy it:

MY LITTLE TRIBUTE TO "EL PANTA"

Marco Pantani was born in 1970 and died on February 14, 2004, six years ago. I won't comment on the circumstances of his death or on his sporting career, which is well known. I simply want to pay my small tribute by recounting a story: In 2003, I was racing for the Alcosto amateur team (a Relax affiliate at the time) and my usual training partners were Rafa Macarrón (who was a professional with Spiuk-Extremadura and who then raced for the Salamanca Patrimonio de la Humanidad team) and Dani Clavero (who raced for Marco Pantani's Mercatone). At that time, Marco was still recovering mentally and physically from his expulsion from the 1999 Giro, and Dani Clavero, his teammate, friend, and advisor, brought him to Las Rozas to free him from the media hounding he constantly suffered in Italy. To Rafa's and my surprise, one day we arrived to pick Dani up for training and Marco Pantani himself was there (we were amazed). I remember we went out at full speed, and in the first hour of training, with only Dani and Marco driving, we averaged over 35 km/h. Suddenly, Dani turned around and said, "Panta says you should come on, he wants to ride on his wheel for a while, but don't slow down." Rafa and I looked at each other, we looked at Dani and we said, "this guy is crazy" , but of course, what were two humble amateurs going to do with such an opportunity to show off in front of El Pirata? Well, we went for it, we went for it with both balls to please Marco Pantani himself . We must not have done so badly when the following week, one morning when I was stuck in traffic on my way to the University, Dani called me and said: “ Jose, can you go out to train this morning? I have a bad temperature and I don’t want Marco to train alone because he wants to do endurance and says he will only go out with someone if it’s you.” Hallucinating, I logically skipped school and went home, dressed as a cyclist, and went to pick up El Panta (you can imagine that for an amateur like me, the idea of ​​“taking Marco Pantani out to train” seemed surreal). We left Las Rozas heading for Majadahonda, Villanueva del Pardillo, Valdemorillo, Zarzalejo, Puerto de la Cruz Verde, etc… Halfway through training we had crossed paths with a “group” of amateurs and professionals of the moment (I won’t mention names, but there were people from Paternina, Kelme, Super Froiz, Alcosto itself, etc.) who had turned around to train with Marco. We were climbing the Puerto de la Cruz Verde and everyone who was with us wanted their moment of glory in front of El Pirata and some would attack, another would respond, another would stay back, etc. And then, I went and got a flat rear wheel . It was a bad day, windy, a bit rainy and cold and everyone carried on as if it were a competition, Pantani hadn't even noticed and carried on too, so there I was, alone, in the middle of the port fixing my wheel and suddenly, a yellow spot appeared in the distance and in a broken Spanish-Italian he said to me, " Hey! You should have warned me" and stopped next to me. I told him, "Marco, keep going or you'll get cold" and, far from that, he said no, helped me fix the puncture, getting his hands dirty and criticizing the attitude of the other teammates saying that they were "too convinti" people and that he didn't want them to come with us anymore. After the repair we continued training and after about 4 hours we stopped for a bun and a Coke in El Escorial (I repeat that for me at 22 years old, all that seemed a bit unbelievable ). At dusk, after 6 hours of training and over 180 km, I left Marco at the door of Dani's house and, exhausted but happy, I went home. I showered and started studying and catching up on what I hadn't done at the University when suddenly my phone rang. It was Dani Clavero who asked me : - “Jose, is everything okay?” - “Yes, of course,” I replied, “everything went well and I left El Panta at your house a while ago.” - “Well, he didn’t come in here.” - "As?" - “Yes, yes, it’s not here…” After a while, he called me and said, "Hey, calm down, he's here now. He said he wasn't feeling good while training and that he went uphill to do a test." I was amazed; the guy had ridden over 180 km with me and then gone to the port of Galapagar to do a test! Even today, 6 years after his death and 7 years after that day , I remember every moment of that training as if it were yesterday . Sharing those 6 hours side by side with El Panta marked a before and after for me, as a person and as an athlete, and from here I want to take the opportunity to pay my small and humble tribute to a great cyclist and an even better person . Rest in peace Marco. CONTACT