Daniel Díaz

Daniel Díaz lives in the town of Villarejo de Salvanés and his first sports activities at a federated level came through futsal. “I liked it a lot, to be honest, I defended myself well”, he recalls. One day he began to share outings on mountain bikes with the gang, experiences that were as fun as they were rewarding, and this is where the family tradition emerged. From the fat wheels to the thin ones on routes where the boy was able to defend himself without any problems on the tricky routes in the surroundings of the Las Vegas region. In Daniel’s family, road cycling was a recurring hobby. His father, Diego, and his uncles are regular riders. And all of them have been able to enjoy and discover this sport thanks to an illustrious family member, now deceased: Mariano Díaz. A professional cyclist in the 1960s, during his career he won important stage victories in the Tour de France, the Tour of Spain and the Tour of Switzerland. In Villarejo de Salvanés a memorial race for the lower categories, schools, cadets and youths, remembers him every year: “Mariano was my father’s uncle and in the family both my father and my uncles have also ended up competing. José Luis was a professional in teams such as BH, Seguros Amaya or Puertas Mavisa and my uncle Javier stood out in the amateur field with two victories in the Vuelta a Madrid. I got to know him and heard many stories of his career. I was especially impressed by how after working in the fields, mowing or harvesting, he would take his bike and cycle from the village to the north to compete”, recalls a Díaz with climbing skills who polishes his neighbouring roads.