Sergio Garrote, Viladecans AmVassador, has achieved his best individual result in an adapted cycling World Championship. In Glasgow, the handbiker from Viladecans was proclaimed champion in the time trial category and runner-up in the road route category. He only missed the podium in the relay event with the Spanish team, which finished fifth after a treacherous race.
With these two new medals in a World Cup, the Viladecans cyclist now has a total of twelve in this championship in the individual category (two golds, five silvers and five bronzes), always placing on the podium in the six World Cups he has contested since 2017. In addition, he has added two other medals with the relay team (a silver and a bronze).
On August 9, Garrote opened his participation in the World Cup in the best possible way: repeating the brilliant gold medal he won in Canada in 2022 for the first time in his career. The cyclist, also current champion of the discipline at the Paralympic Games, dominated the event with authority in a great demonstration of effort. He took the start last and smashed all the records of the previous participants during the eleven kilometres of the race. Moving the bike with his arms at an average speed of almost 38 km/h, he won by 47 seconds over the Frenchman Jouanny and by more than a minute over the Italian Mazzone.
Two days later, Garrote faced one of the few great challenges still on his record: winning the road world title. As it already happened in 2021 and 2019, the handbiker was one step away from achieving it. Only five seconds separated him from the glory, which was taken by his great rival in recent years, the Frenchman Jouanny, while exchanging positions in the time trial. Garrote went all out in the test and stood out on his own in the first lap of the circuit, to the point of having a minute over the Frenchman. The only rival who could follow him closely went to cut distances in the second lap and caught the man from Viladecans shortly before reaching the finish line, taking advantage of a descent to escape a few meters and win a vibrant race.
To close his World Cup participation, Garrote competed in the relay test on August 13. The Spanish team, however, could not repeat the podiums achieved in 2021 and 2018. The first reliever, Martin Berchesi, went to stop against the fences in an incident with a rival and the team closed the first place last classified. Despite making up some distance, it was already impossible to get on the podium for a Spain that finished fifth.
