www.chechurubiera.info - an online magazine for fans of Chechu Rubiera
DANIEL NAVARRO GARCÍA
by Bruno Lopez Vizcon
Born : 08/07/1983 in Gijón (Spain)
Height : 1.74 cm
Weight : 65 kg
Nationality : Spain
Professional since : 2005
Astana’s Daniel Navarro García is a Spanish rider from Asturias.
He rode in the junior categories for the “Estel Las Mestas” team from Gijón, then as an amateur for ONCE-Würth. His first team as a professional rider was Liberty Seguros (now Astana).
Navarro holds the record in Asturias for most stage wins in one season.
Navarro made his debut in the Tour in 2007. A climber from Gijon, he rode a great Tour of Switzerland in June, but suffered a bit in his first Tour de France. In his own words, “I can’t stay with the leaders in the climbs as I thought.”
“My best day was the first one in the Alps, next to Klöden and Vinokourov. The worst, the following day when I failed in the mountains. I finished a bit demoralized. On the way to Briançon I suffered, but Benjamin Noval told me to stay calm and save my stamina for the next few days.”
Two big blows came later for Navarro: positive drug tests for Vinokourov and Kashechkin.
He said, “Those were hard times. First in the Tour, because I had been in two breakaways and was doing a good job when we had to leave. I really didn’t believe that Vinokourov had doped. Then Kashechkin, which had us banned from the Vuelta.”
Navarro was eliminated from the 2007 Tour de France because of Vinokourov´s doping sanction.
With the new dawn of Astana, we are sure that Dani will recover from the past and evolve as great climber. He is surely happy to be with the other two Asturian riders, Chechu Rubiera and Benjamín Noval.
Compiled by Rebecca Bell, January 2008