@vueltasturias @UCI_cycling que os parece que el corredor Dani Navarro del @BurgosBH suba hoy remolcado la cota a 2 de meta para acabar en la 21ª posicion? Imagino que se le podrá sancionar o descalificar por esto
Dani Navarro: Contador's Kuss stepped out from his shadow, but was otherwise "never a great colleague"
CyclingSunday, 05 November 2023 at 09:21
Forty years old and still getting on your steel steed every day: that's a true enthusiast. Dani Navarro may be a name that doesn't immediately ring a bell for everyone, but the pure climber from Spain can certainly look back on a very beautiful career. For that reason, he also features in our end-of-year series on retired riders!
Navarro was born on July 18, 1983, in Salamanca, the capital of the Spanish province that goes by the same name. Coincidentally, on that day, a stage in the Tour de France took place with the finish at Alpe d'Huez, where the Dutchman Peter Winnen managed to claim the stage victory at the time. A sign of things to come for Navarro's climbing career?
He certainly was quick to find his way in the Spanish under-23 peloton, where he stood out in 2004 with a fifth place in the highly regarded Circuito Montañés race. That earned Navarro a contract with the big Liberty Seguros team, which included the likes of Roberto Heras, Alberto Contador, Jörg Jaksche, Allan Davis and also Koen de Kort.
Navarro breaks through as a climber at Astana
With that team, he would ride his first grand tour (the Giro d'Italia) in 2006, but in 2007, Alexandre Vinokourov's Astana beckoned for his services. Navarro took the opportunity and also got to participate in the Tour de France for the first time, but like the rest of his team, he would not finish due to a positive doping test of team leader Vinokourov himself.
In his second year for the Kazakh squad, he definitively broke through as a strong climber, with a fifth place in the Tour of Catalonia, a fourteenth place in the Critérium du Dauphiné, and even a fourth place in the Deutschland Tour. He was unable to continue this trend in 2009, which led to the definitive switch in 2010 to a role as a domestique for superstar Contador.
This proved to be a fruitful combination: Navarro's solid pace often left Contador's competition so exhausted that El Pistolero needed only one acceleration. Thus, in 2010, the duo consecutively took the Tour of Algarve, Paris-Nice, and Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, culminating in the pinnacle moment for Navarro in the Critérium du Dauphiné. Heading towards Grenoble, he joined a breakaway group, from which - one by one - the riders dropped off on the climb, leaving the victory to the Spaniard.
The Tour de France was subsequently won as well, making Contador and his confidants Navarro, Benjamin Noval and Jesús Hernandez hot commodities on the transfer market. Saxo Bank-Sungard eventually bit, following which Contador won the Giro in his first year with that team. At the end of 2012 - partly due to the clenbuterol suspension - the Vuelta a España was added to their victories, but by then his chief support rider was already looking for other opportunities.
Navarro seeks own success after years of loyal service to Contador
Navarro had felt in 2012 that he could compete in various races and was increasingly inclined to seek his own success, which the French Cofidis team eagerly capitalized on. They signed him as the leader for the Tour de France for 2013. This turned out to be a good choice, as Navarro was more than worth his salt with a fifth place in the Dauphiné and a ninth place in the Tour.
One year later, the same was true. Navarro finished ninth in the Dauphiné and then had to withdraw from the Tour, but he more than made up for it in the Vuelta, which was also important for Cofidis, with a stage victory and a top-ten finish in the general classification. That stage win turned out to be the final victory of his career.
Not that the Spaniard was a disappointment, far from it. He always competed in the mountains, particularly in the Dauphiné, but in the Tour and Vuelta, the competition proved to be just a bit stronger. At the end of 2018, he decided to move to Katusha-Alpecin, but that's where the definitive decline began. After a year with Israel Start-Up Nation, Navarro found himself without a contract at the beginning of 2021, even though he still very much wanted to continue.
Eventually, Burgos-BH provided him with a solution. He would ride with that team for another three years. It was during those years that he also came under scrutiny several times for his behavior on the bike. For instance, Sep Vanmarcke called him the epitome of a more selfish peloton after a crash caused by Navarro in the Vuelta. "The next day he said: 'Sorry, but I had good legs. I would have certainly won.' That's when I asked him if this was his way of apologizing. I take that to mean something different. I've known for a while that Navarro was never a great colleague."
In 2022, a video emerged showing Navarro riding up a mountain, holding onto a car in the Tour of Asturias. These were not examples of collegial behavior, but nevertheless, the Spaniard impressively managed to sustain his career until the age of forty. In this year's Vuelta, he rode his final kilometers into Madrid, just a few years after team leader Contador bid farewell in the same race.
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Latest Comments
- Well explained, thanks for the clarity! Daniel DantasDanieldantas20-12-2024
- This is the kind of 'news' that belongs in a cheap tabloid. No matter how boring the offseason gets, nobody wants to read this.
santiagobenites19-12-2024 - I wish we could have seen him try. He'd absolutely get dropped before Pogi overtakes his domestiquesVeganpotter10-12-2024
- Talk is cheap! Next year barring crashes with a healthy team... all well be on track! Some need to talk to make a headline!mootman27-11-2024
- I do not see this event listed on HBO Max Sports Online? Can anyone confirm? Thanks!
MrYuck23-11-2024 - It seemed that he was focusing forward at the time of the crash, after seeing a quick video snippet. But one thing I think he should focus on more intently is breaking a bad habit he has, right now. And that is his constant looking over his shoulders. He does that so much, that I am very sure it is not good for him. Simply watch videos of the greats of CX and you will see very little of that constant looking over their shoulders. That is a behavior that betrays a bit of insecurity on his part. He shouldn't be so concerned, incessantly, about what is over his shoulder. He needn't worry they didn't all disappear. He neds to keep his focus more ahead of himself, and he needs to pay a bit more attention to himself, in a confident manner. It is very frustrating to watch, because it is apparent that he has a lot of potential, and is in much better shape thwan many of his competitors, but the mental game needs to be sharpened more, because that part of strategy plays a huge part in the final results
reemmo022-11-2024 - hahahaha love this shit! I didnt even watched the race, but reading all the gossip articles of how stupid this is!Zatoichi19-11-2024
- Van Aert is really handsome. He can influence me all day! Ditto for Philipsen. Why do you think many of us love cycling?: to see heroic attempts at climbing mountains at high altitudes or to watch speedsters sprint for the finish line or to watch a human being ride at break neck speed down a tricky descent? No, it's all about their lean physiques and muscular legs. (apologies for objectifying these dedicated and amazing athletes).BarwonHeadsUp25-10-2024
- It is unfortunate that the author can't feel the joy that Pogacar brings to the sport and his fans who are legion and I for one feel lucky to have watched such a memorable performance and historic season From the Strada until yesterday with multiple wins in stages in both tours and beyond dominance in the World's. He is proud to wear the Rainbow stripes, shows his leadership to protect his fellows and is as courteous and sportsman-like as the sport allows. He goes early to not have to respond to each attack as all the rest would make him do it. Any racer who could would do the same. Don't "grow tired" of greatness as it is always fleeting.ccrider13-10-2024
- What load of rubbish. Pog is likely a once in a generation cyclist, the like of which hasn't been seen since 'the Cannibal '. How many people were complaining that Merckx was making racing predictable? I remember this year's World RR as one of the most exciting I've watched. Mainly BECAUSE Pog was the favourite and launched what everyone thought (Pog included) was a suicidal attack with 80km to go. For the next 2 hours, I was on the edge of my seat thinking "this is too much, even for Pog". Maybe Zonnefeld prefers the snooze-fest that is a bunch sprint? Like most people I know, I can't watch two hours of the bunch riding very fast... I wait for the final 5km and watch just the sprint. In any event, most races are won from a sprint or lone break. What difference does it make who makes the lone break? Ultimately, the other contenders will have to figure out a way to beat Pog. Even if that means collaboration between teams. It's going to be an exciting few seasons, until the next Pog arrives on the scene. If this is boring, heaven knows what exciting looks like!Michael513-10-2024