For some time now we have been bringing you closer to some of the best riders in the world of bike trial. You have been able to enjoy interviews with the World Champion, Benito Ros, the European Champion, Abel Mustieles, but until today we had not had the chance to get close to the 9 times Biketrial World Champion.
Dani Comas gave us an interview of more than half an hour by phone where the Catalan rider touches all the sticks. Dani gives us his opinion on modern trial, on the changes that need to be made and reviews his beginnings and this 2012 season. Without a doubt, an interesting interview where you will learn a little more about this great rider and person.
TRIALWORLD: Hey Dani, first of all, how would you define yourself as a rider?
DANI COMAS: I consider myself a constant athlete, quite persistent and a fighter to achieve the challenges I set myself. I define myself personally as a rider with a lot of technique and I try to get the most out of it, whether it’s in the pulls or in the riding of the bike.
TW: How did you get to know and get into trial?
DC: It all came about because my father did trial riding a motorcycle and I went on Sundays to accompany him, I remember that I had a Bultaco Chispa. One day we went to the Barcelona Motor Show and I was lucky that there was one Ot Pi display, coincidentally, my father knew Pere Pi So we went to see it and I knew what the trialsin was, until that moment I had never seen it. I loved seeing an athlete doing with the bike the things that my father did with the bike and it was from that moment that I became fond of Biketrial.
TW: Do you remember the first race you won?
DC: Not the first one itself, because many years have passed (laughs), but I do remember one of the most important races; It was in the elite championship category of Catalonia and it was in Saint Fruitos del Bages there were Cesar, Ot, Jordi Rubio and many more outstanding riders, I was 16 years old and I will never forget it because I was 16 years old. it was the first race I was able to win in the Elite category. That same year I also won a round of the Spanish championship in the Elite category in Ibiza and I think they are the ones that have marked me the most because they were the first ones I have won in the highest category and that is never forgotten.
TW: A lot of people don’t know that you had a time away from Monty’s team.
DC: Yes, since I was a child I had been with Monty until 1999 when I met after finishing runner-up in the Elite World Championship I received an offer from Megamo (GasGas) which I accepted and was there for a period of 3 years, it was an important time for my sporting growth so I am very grateful to the Verdaguer family for all the support they gave me. From 2003 I had an offer again, this time to return to Monty so attached to this added to the economic problems that Megamo was going through and that’s when I decided to return home (Monty), where I’ve been going to this day ever since and I hope it will be like that for many more years.
TW: What has been your best moment in trial?
DC: I can’t say it’s a special moment because there are quite a few, but always when you win a world title you don’t forget. I have my first world championship in both Biketrial and UCI very much in mind, because when you win for the first time and you manage to fulfill what you have dreamed and worked for throughout your childhood and you see that it becomes a reality… That moment is unforgettable, priceless. That’s why I can’t single out one in particular, as they all have their moment and they all have their value.
TW: On the contrary, the worst?
DC: The worst moment is injuries or defeats when you’re fighting for a title, unfortunately I’ve been a rider who has had quite a few injuries, one of the most important and frustrating of my sporting career It was the break on two occasions of the triad, which are the anterior cruciate ligament, internal and external lateral ligament and meniscus. Those are the worst moments, you see that everyone does what you like and you are unable to move, without a doubt that is the worst thing I have ever experienced, because of this I had to spend 2 years of my sporting life without being able to compete, I even considered continuing my sports career, luckily I decided to continue and I have been able to win many world titles.
TW: Do you think general trial needs a change? When Benito left Biketrial, perhaps a bit of excitement and visibility was lost.
DC: I believe that trials (Biketrial and UCI) need a change and a very big one if we want this sport to be more professional, media and eye-catching for the general public, whether it is for connoisseurs of the sport or not. From my point of view, the things that could help our sport would be to make the Indoor competitions in city centres, bringing them closer to the public of
This mode would be more attractive for the media, shorter competitions with only the 10 best riders in the top category, changing the regulations trying to make trial a more dynamic, urban and extreme sport. This is what refers at the international level with a single federation and for grassroots sport to continue as until today with mountain competitions and only regional championships.
As for Benito’s question, it is clear that whenever a great rider leaves, he is missing both for the public and for the opponents, it was the path he decided to take and against it I do not have to say so I respect everyone’s decisions the pilots.
in UCI TW: You are the only one with a world championship in 20″ and another in 26″ in UCI right?
DC: To this day I’m the only one who has won in Biketrial with 20 and 26 in the Elite category and in UCI with 20 and 26 also in the top category, For me it is a great satisfaction and a challenge fulfilled as well as having obtained during my sporting career the fact of having won all the Biketrial and UCI championships (Spain, World Cup, European and World Cup) so I hope that this record lasts for years (laughs).
TW: What means more winning to you, UCI or Biketrial?
DC: To me, they are both equally important. I face it as a goal of the season and a personal challenge as I try to surpass myself. I owe it to a brand and if the brand decides that I have to run in one place or another I will do what they tell me. It’s like a worker being told they have to work one shift or another. For me both have a very high value, it is clear that if you can win both much better but I would not choose one or the other, either of them means a lot to me.
TW: Why did you decide to leave 20 to 26 and then come back? From what we know you really like the 26th, was it hard to go back to the 20th?
DC: They were commercial decisions that were made at the time, Monty wanted to give a little life to the 26″ since they had only focused on 20 ” and taking advantage of the fact that in the Biketrial the Master and Elite category joined they opted for me to participate with a 26″ wheel. During that year there were commercial changes that affected sales, so the following year they made me go back to 20.”
For me changing from 26″ to 20″ was hard at the beginning for two reasons, The first one was that I wasn’t happy with that change because I felt very comfortable with the 26″ and I was starting to get the most out of the bike and the second one was going back to 20″ was a very hard moral blow, especially in training because I tried to make steps that with the 26″ were easy for me and with the 20″ impossible, I didn’t have a choice as commercially the brand was interested in my return and I obviously owe it to their decisions as their rider.
TW: Did you feel capable of being with those at the top fighting for titles?
DC: Obviously, as the results say, in that year I was World and European Biketrial Champion, I won several UCI World Cup races, semi-finals in the World Championship and in the final I came third. Although I really think that all of us who are at the top of 20 or 26 with a little bit of adaptation would be ahead in any category.
in the world TW: Why did you decide to stop racing in the UCI during this last year?
DC: For several reasons, as you know I am one of the few riders who competed until last year both in Biketrial and in UCI, this means around 25 competitions a year and added to the more than 50 exhibitions that I carried out per year plus training, professional commitments, etc… It was a constant stress and non-living for me throughout the season. There were a lot of competitions that I had to go to without sleeping, or I had just competed and without sleeping I went to an exhibition, so I had to make a decision because I was missing hours and it was reflected in my health, motivation and training to continue competing at 100%. This, added to the signing of Abel Mustieles with Monty, made us meet with Ot Pi and make the decision to focus only on Biketrial and thus have more time to do other things and recharge batteries for next season.
TW: From what we hear you want to go back to racing UCI championships, will the 3 “magnificent” Spaniards of the 20″ return?
DC: My intention is this year if we manage to schedule everything well, to compete in the UCI again. I would like to be able to combine Biketrial and UCI. The problem is that to go to the UCI World Championship you have to go to many races before and as always, for political reasons, there will be some competition for sure so that will be the difficult thing for me, but it is true that I want to do as many competitions as possible and race the world championship whenever my schedule allows me to do so because for this 2013 we have very interesting projects.
TW: How do you prepare? What kind of exercises do you do or how do you train?
DC: It all depends on the time of year, I have a physical trainer who is in charge of scheduling the season and it also depends on trips and commitments. But normally we train between 4 or 5 days a week on a trial bike, the physique about 2 days in the gym. I also go out a bit on the road and mountain bike. When I have a day off I also like to go out with the trial bike or supermotard, I really spend all day doing things to improve in the trial and be in shape with the difficulty that comes with all the trips I make.
TW: What has been and is your favorite bike?
DC: My favorite bike maybe the one out there now, the M5 is a bike that everyone would like to have. I think that when it comes out it will be a boom because it is beautiful aesthetically and above all functionally. The stiffness it has, how light it is, a lot of work has been done, we have been working on it for many years and I think it would be my favorite no matter what.
TW: Is there a definitive release date yet?
DC: The latest news I have about Monty is that the one Abel and I have is the final one and from what I’ve been told in February it will come out so that people have them for the World Cup.
TW: You won the Biketrial World Championship but what was supposed to be a comfortable World Championship has had a lot of setbacks.
DC: Yes, the truth is that when I arrived in France I knew that I was going with the onset of mononucleosis and I knew that it could take its toll on me since Biketrial races are usually very long and hard, I was afraid that after x time I would suffer the consequences of fatigue, such as they occurred.
I did my best, I saw the areas and I thought it would be easier as they were very difficult.I arrived at a very good level and I was really doing things training that I had never done before, but little by little it got complicated and it was a World Cup where I suffered a lot to be able to achieve it. Starting the first race with a 4th is very bad when there are only 3 races and your opponent, Vashek in this case with a very good level. Little by little it became complicated by one thing or another and in the end there was a lot of tension.
TW: When we trained with you you had a broken wrist bone from the fall of Igualada.
DC: Yes, it has been a World Cup of setbacks, in France at the time I was exhausted and I couldn’t take it anymore I had to sting the whole second half of the season… In Igualada I was unlucky that the handlebars broke. I’ve never split a carbon handlebar before and it doesn’t matter if it’s Koxx, Rockman or Monty, they are handlebars that last a long time and I guess I would mount the brake badly damaging the handlebars by tightening the brake lever too much or anything and I was unlucky that it broke. In the fall I hurt my tailbone a lot and a small bone in my wrist broke. To go to Italy I had to infiltrate and it was a race that together with Cesar Cañas we were controlling my physique and the rivals a lot, rushing the time and saving strength to reach the end well, luckily we did well and we were able to win my new World title.
TW: You’ve been doing a little tour of Mexico, how has the experience been?
DC: It has been a very positive experience, last year I went for a few days and I loved it. This year it was going to go in principle for 20 days and we had a small tour of exhibitions but once we were there more things came out, especially the most important thing for this sport which is that the televisions were interested, being in this case the two most important networks Televisa and Fox Sports. These chains are the most important in Latin America and the southern U.S. And every week we went out two or three times in one of them, which made a lot more things come out. I am very happy, they treated me very well and we did many exhibitions and photographic reports, in fact I had to go back because I was running out of the 3 months of residency but very happy and hoping to return soon since surely in February we will be there for another season.
TW: You are now more focused on the dissemination of trial than before, how are you doing it?
DC: Every time we try to make it more professional, we have a company called ActionSport which is the one that He is in charge of representing me and moving me and we try to make people more professional in the future and make it bigger. I also do a lot of exhibitions in Spain to spread the word that helps this goal and now due to the situation in the country we are trying to go a little abroad, so that they know us and professionally. We have very interesting and media projects for 2013 that will surely make Biketrial much more known, that is our intention.
TW: Do you think the competition format is right?
DC: I think it’s very good that the world championships are organized and all this, but if we want the pilots to be able to live we have to look more for an X-Games style that are a spectacle and even if we drivers don’t like it , because we like to compete or train more, we have to look for
This is the first time that we have been able to Things that the public will want more and that are attractive. It can’t be that we want them to see 80 people go through the areas, some go up others don’t, in the end it’s always the same, there are no tricks and for a person who doesn’t know it’s very boring we have to try to dynamize the Biketrial. We have to find another way to try to fit this sport in and bring it closer to the people.
: Maybe we should start to focus it more as a spectacle as you say and not so much as a “purist” sport.
DC: We have been focused on sport for many years and we are as we are and as athletes it is what we want, but it is also true that we have to find the other side of the coin and look in a way more for the “spectacle” and dynamism that Biketrial provides us. I think that nowadays it has gone less because before you could earn a better living, but I think there is a change, as it is necessary if we want it to continue to evolve. In Spain and in the world, making a living from this sport is very difficult. If here, which is where there is more level, there are almost no professional riders in this sport, there is something that is not being done well and we have to try to find solutions.
TW: The format of the bikes can be the right one, don’t you think?
DC: Yes, the X-Trials have been made for television , there are even areas that stop them because there are ads and they have to enter when they are told, the concept is different.
TW: We’ll ask you the same question we asked Toni Bou, should outdoor music be stopped?
DC: I think the outdoors will disappear because we are in the same old way, trying to move people to the mountains is very difficult. We are a sport that must go to the people, not the people come to us. The way for them to come is to hold competitions in the city centers which, as I said, is what the UCI is doing or the Biketrial did in igualada. People walk around, see that and stay to see it, but if you have to go to the mountains and spend five hours moving around…
TW: How do you see the current level? It seems that Musti is very strong.
DC: Yes, it’s true right now Abel Mustieles is at a very high level , in this last year he has done things very well and the effort is showing him, he is young with a lot of motivation and that shows.
TW: Do you see yourself to be with them and contest the races?
DC: I do see myself, if I didn’t see myself I wouldn’t have the illusion of competing, if I want to race it’s because I know I’m at the same level, otherwise I would be realistic and think that there are other things to do. It is true that I have been competing for many years that the motivation is not the same and it is a law of life that young people push and in the future surpass us.
TW: How many years do we have left of Dani Comas?
DC: You don’t know that, it depends a lot on the injuries, the motivation you have, sponsors, etc… I think I have more than enough to be fighting for the victory. As I told you before, I’ve pushed harder than ever preparing for the World Cup. The day that motivation runs out and other things are more of a priority, it will be time to make decisions and take one path or another.
TW: When you leave, do you want to continue working in trial?
DC: Yes, I will continue to be linked to trial as it has given me everything I have and I owe a lot to this sport perhaps linked to a bike brand. First I want to be inside for as long as possible, both compete and do exhibitions and then we’ll see what we’ll do. At the moment Cesar Cañas and I have formed a company called Trial Energy where we organize trial races and in the not too distant future we will also organize other types of events.
TW: Finally, do you want to thank something or someone this year 2012?
DC: Of course, I want to give special thanks to my Sponsors (Monty, Inverse, Nutrisport, Uvex, Skyns, Trial Energy, Cesar Cañas Trial Academy), my physical trainer José Ma. Padulles, Dr. Balius, Actio Sports, Cesar Cañas, my family, partner and all those who have been supporting me to achieve this new world title, without them it would not have been possible.
Text: Álvaro López / Photos: DC Archive
