Even after him He was followed by such aces of Slovak sports as professional cyclist Ján Svorada and swimmer Martina Moravcová. Thirty years have passed since Dvorščík’s triumph at the WC in Capo d’Orlando, Sicily.
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of this historic achievement?
I especially have the last two hundred meters in front of my eyes. I hesitated a bit at the very end and I feel that if I had caught Dan Pedersen’s start, I could have won. And I ask myself where my career would probably go if I won.
Where do you think she would go?
My path to the pros would probably be more straightforward. I would have more open doors. In the professional cycling world, first places count. People only remember the winners.
It’s not always fair…
Fair-unfair, it’s always been that way. Almost a hundred riders did not finish the demanding race. I lost the fight for gold narrowly, by half a wheel. But in life, the difference between the first and the second is much greater. But maybe it was that good, maybe someone up there wanted it that way.
What was good about it?
I didn’t disappoint, but I didn’t win. It was a strange time, a bit dark for cycling. There was a lot of doping in it, and cyclists were often pushed to take illegal substances as well. I was afraid that they would force me to do things I didn’t want to do. I don’t know if I would succumb.
How did your further career develop?
When I came back from the World Cup, I felt like everyone was going to fight for me. I quickly discovered that this was my naive imagination. I didn’t have a manager, experience with such a situation, nor did the transfer market in world cycling work like it does now. I was 24 years old and nothing was really happening. In the end, it turned out that even for Dukla Trenčín, of which I was a member, it was more advantageous for me to stay at home.
At that time, cycling was still divided into amateur and professional…
There was a big difference between them. I won success among amateurs. Although soon the peloton came together and the top amateurs quickly applied themselves even in the strongest competition. Ludwig, Ampler, Zabel, Abdužaparov, Jaskula were able to win even among professionals. Or Ulrich. When I won a medal at the World Championships, he finished in 28th place.
Why didn’t you make a more significant impact? Didn’t you have it?
Maybe so. With good setup, leadership, training… However, we did everything amateurishly. We had no conditions, no money, no professional guidance. We lacked knowledge and material. I relied on my own strength, knowledge, experience. I started at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and there for the first time professionals and amateurs competed together, the peloton came together.
You finished 34th in the time trial…
I smile when I think of it. I see tourists now going to the White Cross riding a much better bike than I had. Of course, development cannot be stopped. But in Atlanta I had a bike built out of water pipes. Opponents had the most modern machines at that time. I had no chance. I was officially guided by Vendelín Kvetan, but especially Stanislav Olšák helped me a lot in preparation.
Title goes here… ====Was that your trainer?
That was the paradox, he wasn’t a coach. He worked in Dukla as an administrative worker. But he was interested in new, modern training methods, issues of heart rate, its variability. We took measurements before and after the load, made evaluations, put together graphs and prepared training plans based on that. At least in hints, we applied a scientific approach in preparation.
But in the nineties you were already officially employed as a professional cyclist, you took a salary. How tall?
I don’t remember his exact height. We couldn’t jump out too much, but we could make a decent living out of it. And we also had other benefits. I got an apartment in Dukla. That was a bonus that I appreciated and obliged me greatly. It is difficult to get an apartment today. We also had other advantages. We could travel, we got to countries where other people couldn’t.
Were you able to make extra money on premiums?
There was such a possibility, but it was small. We earned something at the race and the money was shared in the team. When I consider how hard cycling is and compare it to other lucrative sports, it’s no glory. Even at the Tour de France, cyclists still earn less than tennis players or golfers. In our case, today it would be tens of euros, if somewhere they were paying hundreds, those were big bonuses. We often received material prizes.
Do you remember any curious ones?
For example, we received a television, a sewing machine. Or I won the washing machine. I kept it and it served me for some time. A few weeks before the 1994 WC, I became the champion of Slovakia and they gave me a dog, a wolfhound. I dedicated it to my brother-in-law and finally the dog ended up at the city police in Považská Bystrica. It was an interesting period, shortly after the revolution and the division of Czechoslovakia. The old one didn’t work anymore, the new one didn’t either. In Slovakia, we experienced the wild nineties. And they were also in sports.
Finally, your dream has come true and you have reached the professionals…
The euphoria from the silver medal at the World Cup has faded a long time ago. I was moving in a vicious circle. I wasted a lot of time. I did what I thought was good. But the life of an athlete is too short to afford to make mistakes. And I did a lot of them. There was a possibility to continue at least in the Czech Republic, as Jano Svorada or Jožo Regec did. Cycling worked there at a higher level. In the end, I stayed at home, with Miro Lipták and Ján Valach we represented the top. But I kept telling myself that maybe I’d make it among the pros and I’d never find out. I took a bit of a risk. In 1996, an unknown agent contacted me, offering me a place in the Spanish team.
A professional?
No, the team was called Gres de Nules and Keraben, but they worked with the strong professional group Kelme. They worked in the region of Murcia, where legends Alejandro Valverde and Oscar Sevilla came from. I found myself in a team with him and we were on a similar level. However, he was younger and more promising, he applied himself in a strong professional peloton and later went to Colombia. I went to Spain also because at that time cycling was not only popular there, but also successful. At the top was Indurain, who won the Tour five times in a row.
How did you do?
Even in the amateur peloton there was huge competition. And it was true that a foreigner had to be better than a native. Who was on the same level was not interesting, they had those at home too. I achieved some good results, I also won one stage race. After a year, they told me that there was no place in Kelma, but they offered me a place in the profitable Avianca Telecom in Colombia. I was supposed to spend part of the season in South America, come back to Europe and then introduce myself at the Vuelta.
Did you go to South America?
I hesitated for a long time, but decided to give it a try. Everything did not go according to my expectations. I also made it clear that I only want to do pure cycling. I can’t claim that anyone forced me to do anything. It was just probing how I felt about it. At the same time, they told me that the results will be important. My task was to get into the team among the nine riders at the Vuelta. I didn’t succeed. Several of my fellow passengers were better. That was the end of our cooperation. But this experience gave me a lot.
In what?
I was 29 years old and realized that I would not make a hole in world cycling again. My dream of the Tour de France was fading away. But I learned a lot. I improved in languages. I enjoyed that and I also learned quickly. In addition to traditional German and English, I speak Spanish, Italian and French. For almost two years, only Spanish was spoken around me. I integrated myself into this environment. When I was on the phone with my family and the passengers heard me, they were very surprised. They asked – can you speak such an exotic language?
Are you back in Europe?
I became a member of the Italian-Slovak group De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa. For example, Jano Valach and Martin Riška were in it with me. We operated in Italy and in 2000 the team was also registered in Slovakia. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t professional top. I gradually lost motivation and decided to stop cycling. I was thirty.
Your experiences later paved the way for other Slovak cyclists. Peter Sagan achieved exceptional results. When did you start registering it?
In 2003, I became a referee and participated several times in youth races. I didn’t particularly follow him at first. He won more than others, but he was not the only one. In the youth category, there was not yet such a striking difference between the talented boys. Even before Sagan, I also perceived the excellent career of Matej Jurč and the brothers Petr and Martin Velitsov. Even in Sagan’s era, for example, Fujdala from Prešov was excellent. We represented the top in the junior category. Slovakia is a country of sports talents. But it squanders its potential.
What do you see as the cause?
We lack a system. We are impatient, we put a disproportionate amount on talents, and we throw them into the deepest water, ignorant of things. I see the problem in the transition from the junior category to adults. It is often based mainly on family support in combination with what the state has offered. This is true of all the cases I have mentioned, and of many others in the recent past. The parents are often also former top athletes or coaches. Sagan also had support in the family, although not at such a professional level.
However, he made it the farthest of all. How do you rate his career, which he recently concluded?
He went abroad at the right time and in his first Italian team they knew how to handle his talent. He gradually showed his potential, won great results. If someone had told me in his early days what he could do, I wouldn’t have believed him. As a former cyclist, it seemed impossible for me to become world champion with the support he had. And he became the champion three times in a row! Sagan achieved the impossible in third.
Now the names Svrček, Štoček and Kubiš are often mentioned. Can any of them repeat at least some of Sagan’s achievements?
Everyone can’t be Sagan and every career is different. Last year, Kubiš was in Dukla, Banská Bystrica, where the Slovak elite is concentrated. It was enough that he went to the Czech team and immediately made a jump in performance. It is sad that instead of the one who comes to Dukla getting better year after year, his performance falls. A new private Pierre Baguette team was created, which is supported by an enthusiast, a dreamer, Boris Horváth. I was interested in his project. But it is typically Slovak that instead of helping him, we put obstacles in his way. Slovak cycling lacks competition. All the three you mentioned work in foreign teams. Of them, Svrček could make it the farthest.
Who is the greatest talent among them?
Working in a good team at a good time, he could get the stamp of a future star. He was also a bit unlucky, he was troubled by health problems. If they avoid him and he has a bit of luck, he will see good results. He will not repeat Sagan’s, because each of them is different. But unlike him, he could make a stronger impact in stage races. He did not enter cycling with the same vigor as Sagan, and he could have lasted until an older age. Thanks to Sagan, we’ve had a boom so far, but we haven’t capitalized on it. When I look at the beginning of this period in 2010 and compare it to now, I don’t see a shift.
Until recently, you worked in cycling as an international referee, now you do not work in any area. Do you miss it?
I experienced good times in cycling and gained a lot of experience. But I never push myself where I am not wanted. I have other priorities. After my sports career, I was able to apply myself in everyday life in various positions. Most recently as a project manager in a multinational company. I played hockey, tennis and now I’m going to my sixth marathon in Košice. I started refereeing again, but in athletics. I recently worked at the ME juniors in Banská Bystrica. But big sport doesn’t appeal to me. I see a lot of hypocrisy in society. Some representatives of sports organizations often have two versions: one is for the public and the other they follow in practice. These scissors are opening more and more. I am not attracted to such a world.
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
