Carlos Verona, Movistar Team runner, will participate next Sunday in his first triathlon, the SGRAIL100, which will take place in Cadaqués (Girona). The Madrid cyclist, trained by the German Jan Frodeno, Olympic champion in Beijing 2008 and triple Ironman world champion, will debut in this discipline where he hopes to "have fun and have a pleasant experience."
After a difficult season in which Movistar has come close to relegation from the highest category of world cycling, Verona has dared to leave its comfort zone. First with his participation in the first Gravel World Championship and then accepting the challenge launched by Frodeno, adding running shoes and a swimming cap to his usual bicycle.
The SGRAIL100 will consist of a 1.5km swim, 90km gravel bike and 10.5km run. The main obstacle for Verona will be swimming, a discipline that is far from his specialty.
Verona has sought "the best possible coach with Frodeno", also a resident of Andorra. Following the guidelines of the legendary German triathlete, he is willing to live a new experience.
"I will face the triathlon as a final test of the season to have fun, it is not competitive, it is about living an adventure more than a race itself. Frodeno proposed it to me and I accepted after speaking with the sponsors, who were also involved I made an outing to train with him, we talked and we signed up", explains Verona.
The runner of the telephone group opens the doors to the enjoyment of other sporting modalities after a tense season, "in which things did not go well at the beginning and after the Vuelta, with the second place of Enric Mas there was a turning point" that allowed Movistar to close the year with several wins.
How he will do it in his debut is unknown, but whether he dares to take on the challenge already says a lot about this combative Madrid native who hopes to continue joining the Movistar Team in 2023, however, he will have to swim and run before returning to the bike.
