With the Rio Olympics less than a year away, the triathlon world is no doubt concentrating on the controversial test event in the Brazilian city this weekend. With no prize money on offer, qualification points is the proverbial carrot dangling for those willing to travel half-way around the world to get to know the course for 2016.
Back on the European mainland, another event has begun, albeit with little fanfare outside the borders of the host country. The Tour of Portugal is a lesser known cycling stage race held around the backwater of the two-wheeled profession that is the Portuguese cycling scene.
What do an ITU World Series race and a two week stage race have in common, one might ask?
Ivan Rana is the answer.
A former ITU World Champion, fifth-placed finisher in Beijing 2008 and now one of the world's premier long distance triathletes, Rana joins Briton Spencer Smith as one of only two triathletes who can lay claim to a World Championship title as well as having been a registered professional cyclist on the Continent.
The post-Olympic year is often a strange one for many athletes. Triathlon is no different and motivation is often low after four years building up to the Games. Whilst some athletes retire or move on to the longer distances, 2009 saw Spain's Ivan Rana do something unheard of: he changed sports. The multi-talented Spaniard had an itch in late 2008, something that had been in his subconscious since he was a child. And in signing with the Continental squad Xacobeo Galicia for 2009, he achieved a lifelong dream of cycling professionally in his home country.
“I had always wanted to be a pro rider as a kid,” he explains “but running came naturally to me. My parents also couldn't afford bikes for all five kids so I also began swimming. After fifteen years of triathlon training and becoming World Champion, my results started to drop as a result of health and injury issues. While I did come fifth in Beijing 2008, I was pretty disappointed on missing out on a medal so that's when I started thinking about giving cycling a go.”
After three months of negotiations, Rana's childhood dream became a reality and he was soon ensconced in a whirlwind adventure that would know no limits. From training camps in Spain to the the Sierra Madre of Mexico, the experiences and suffering are etched in Rana's memory forever.
“Everybody wants to show that they are the strongest or the bravest both on and off the bike,” says Rana of the community that is professional cycling. “Then there also riders who will do anything for you without a trace of ego. My year as a pro cyclist was a great experience.”
The term experience is perhaps a misnomer as anybody who has cycled for a living in Europe would know. Not much is straightforward, little is logical and even less is fathomable, as Rana relates.
“One day we travelled to race by car for eight hours only to be told by the director that we were not allowed to eat lunch! I didn't matter that we were competing at altitude in the snow the next day at minus five degree: he was adamant that no riders were allowed to have lunch. I told him that I didn't care what he said or about the four star hotel and that I was going to eat anyway. We naturally didn't have a very good relationship after that.”
Almost exactly a year after racing in the Beijing Olympics, Rana was immersed in survival test unimagineable for his multi-sport peers. Arguably as tough – some say tougher than the better known Grand Tours – his memories of the Tour of Portugal are but a blur, “so fast and just praying to get to the finish every single day. I remember a pro triathlete asking me once why I didn't win any bike races and was it because I didn't train enough. He just didn't understand, I guess.”
Different sports require different training methods and adaptation periods and Rana knows this only too well. Running barely a few times in 2009 and swimming once weekly (“a kilometre just to keep in touch with the water”), the Spaniard noticed a change in his physique during his time in the peloton. More importantly though, was an adjustment in his psyche, something which he thinks is critical to success if competing on two wheels.
“You have to learn to suffer,” he explains. “Even if you finish dead last, you have to keep moving every single day and be prepared to fight for your position in the peloton.”
Now one of the premier exponents of long-distance triathlon, Rana looks back on his year as a cyclist with great fondness. Currently on Lanzarote Island preparing for Kona later this year, Rana admits that he would have liked to stay longer in cycling had circumstances allowed. Not that he has any regrets though.
“Two of the three directors wanted me to stay. Having a top triathlete on the team was good exposure for them, but in the end it was not to be. In cycling, sometimes you just have to be quiet and do what you are told. And I'm happy training for IRONMAN although it was quite difficult getting back into good running shape.
These days, Rana has an appreciation of the sport that few others have. Whether the bunch is tightly moving its way along flat terrain or split up over a mountain pass, he almost feels part of the action.
“It is fun watching Le Tour live on TV now. I remember the good things from that year with Xacobeo Galicia; new experiences, new things, new people.
“And going full gas in any conditions!”
