Barcelona30 years ago, Melcior Mauri managed to win the Vuelta a España beating General Miguel Indurain. The cyclist from Osona, a specialist in time trial, wrote one of the golden pages of Catalan sport, despite not being one of the ranks of the ONCE team and having to face a flock of great climbers, such as Marino Lejarreta, Fought Herrera or Fabio Parra. Mauri, who now organizes a cycling campus, remembers that victory, the second and last in the history of a Catalan in the race.
How did Melcior Mauri’s love for cycling begin?
– At home. With Joan, my older brother, who went out to ride with the Vic Cycling Union. I was gnashing my teeth and didn’t stop until they bought me a bike. They bought me one ferro and went out on the road, with grandparents, with friends. And from there I made the leap to racing, first in juvenile and infant categories. And I start winning. When I was a junior that’s when I saw that I could dedicate myself to it.
If winning a race as important as the Vuelta a España is already difficult, do it without being even more in line, right? And in your case it had to be even tougher, as one of your rivals was within your team, as was the case with Marino Lejarreta.
– The truth is that yes. Within the ONCE team there were runners like Marino Lejarreta or Anselmo Fuerte who aspired to win. Then I was a joker, but that season I started it very strong and I won the Tour of Valencia. I got there in very good shape, but it was no row. Within the race there were situations that favored me, that year. Especially the number of time clocks, which put me in the lead. Then there were situations in the race that were complicated, as Marino Lejarreta attacked to take time to Miguel Indurain, but, of course, the leader of the race was me. Over time I have been thinking a lot about everything that happened. And I talked to everyone more calmly. They wanted Lejarreta to be able to beat General Indurain, who was second. And how could he do that? Well attacking in a territory ideal for him as it was the mountain, in the lakes of Covadonga. I didn’t like how Lejarreta went up that day, as he could have lost the lead, but these are things that happen.
Lejarreta was a great climber, Miguel Indurain the favorite and Melcior Mauri who shone in the time trial.
– And I was lucky that in that edition of the Vuelta they put more time trials than ever. On the first day there was already a threesome time trial and I became the leader teaming with Anselmo Fuerte and Herminio Díaz Zabala. We handed out the leader jersey for the first few days and then I didn’t leave it anymore. Then came the team time trial, where the ONCE did well. And the individual Cala d’Or time trial, which I won, the Valdezcaray Time Trial and a new individual time trial in Valladolid. Five time trial, never seen before!
It also helped that a high mountain stage was suspended due to the snow …
– Yes, the stage of the Beret plan in Andorra. Also that year I held up well in mountain stages, but of course, that helped me.
When do you get the idea that you can win the race?
– Probably the day of the Valdezcaray time trial. It wasn’t my terrain and it was going really well. When I saw that it was better weather than Indurain, I was clear that this was my year.
When you dress in yellow, being a leader, how do you manage the pressure?
– You have to be very prepared. Doubts about yourself in many moments, you live complicated situations. I remember that before the time trial there was a sports program on television. I had gone out to mow the ground and, on my way back to the hotel, I was relaxed in bed and I saw the headline: “Today Mauri may lose the lead. You had to be strong not to be affected, when you saw that a lot of people took it for granted that you wouldn’t hold out.
A very hard moment is when on the stage of the lakes of Covadonga, on the ramp of the Huesera, Lejarreta and Indurain attack.
– It was complicated, but I kept a cool head. Going up to my pace, I saw that I could get there without wasting time. I wasn’t an explosive runner on the mountain, so if I followed them I would make a mistake. I went at my own pace, without wasting much time.
The victory came in 1991, but was Mauri the best in 1995?
– That year I finished second in the Tour of Catalonia, I am the Spanish time trial champion, I finished fourth in the Vuelta and I managed to be sixth in the Tour de France. Overall it was my best season, but of course Indurain won his fifth Tour and not much was said about me. Miguel, with whom I have a very good relationship, eclipsed us all [somriu]. I experienced the best cycling from the inside, it was a beautiful time.
In this year’s Vuelta we have only one Catalan, De la Cruz. What are we missing?
– I always say that you have to take care of the base. If there is a professional team, you have a reference for children, for example … But at the base is where what we will pick up next is planted, and basic cycling is played. We need to work harder, build schools, promote junior and amateur teams … That’s where the future will come from. We’ve never had big team projects here.
As a curiosity: the Belgian Mauri Vansevenant, from the Deceuninck-Quick Step team, is taking part in the Vuelta. Is it true that it is said so in your honor?
– Yes, that’s right. It’s an honor that my last name is the name of a current cyclist, but I haven’t been able to talk to him about it. His father was a cyclist and he wanted to pay me this tribute. In Belgium, cycling is very popular.
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