www.chechurubiera.info - an online magazine for fans of Chechu Rubiera
BENJAMÍN NOVAL GONZALEZ
Discovery Channel Team cyclist and Chechu’s amigo, Benjamín Noval, was born in Asturias, Spain on January 23, 1979.
He began his professional career in 2001 after riding with Video Porteros Tegui as an amateur. After a tenure with the professional team Relax-GAM in Spain, he was signed by US Postal in 2003, partly at the request of his close friend, Chechu Rubiera.
Fans who came to US Postal/Discovery Channel by following Lance Armstrong know Benjamín as a stalwart cyclist who can ride all day at the front of the group, leading the team on the flats and mid-mountains.
Although Benjamín has ridden the Classics and many Spanish races, his big job each year for US Postal/Discovery Channel has been the Tour de France. Using the considerable strength of his 6’2”, 170lbs. frame to pull the team through the Tour each year, he has been an indispensable worker.
Benjamín often does training rides through the countryside with Chechu. The two colleagues also participate in local cycling events throughout Asturias. For a look at one of their rides, see Mining for Chechu in the Race2Replace webisodes.
Nicknamed el Toro de Mieres, Benjamín lives in the village of Mieres, in Asturias. When he’s not training on the bike, he loves hunting with his four dogs, Astur-Cantabrian Griffons. He also loves long walks in the country.
Last November, Benjamín married his long-time girlfriend, Sara, who has been a familiar face on the sidelines at the Tour.
PALMARÈS
2006
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
22nd overall, Kuurne Brussel Kuurne
33rd overall, Tour de Georgia
2005
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
1st Stage 3, Tour de France (GT) Team Time Trial
3rd Stage 5, Dauphiné Libéré
14th overall, Volta a Catalunya
2004
US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor
3rd, Clasica de Almeria
2003
Colchon Relax-Fuenlabrada
3rd, Spanish National Road Race Championships
4th, Spanish Time Trial Championships
6th overall, Volta a Catalunya
12th overall, Pais-Vasco
2002
Colchon Relax-Fuenlabrada
9th overall, Volta a Catalunya
2001
Colchon Relax-Fuenlabrada
IN THE MEDIA
La Peña toasts Benjamín Noval in annual supper
La Peña, a group of supporters of cyclist Benjamín Noval, celebrated their annual supper last night at the Alto de Santo Emiliano, one of the most prestigious summits of the Montaña Central.
The association paid tribute to Benjamín, originally from Mieres in central Asturias, but who now lives in Pola de Lavinia.
There are about seventy members who follow the career of Noval, one of the Asturians in the international peloton.
Chechu and Quick Step's Carlos Barredo were expected to join the celebration.
The Alto de Santo Emiliano, a mountain top that has been offered as a conquest in great stages of the Vuelta a España and the now-defunct Vuelta a Los Valles Mineros.
10 FEBRUARY 2007
Noval injured at Solvang
The rider from Mieres, who will ride the Tour and the Vuelta, will be on crutches for two weeks as a result of a fall in California.
La Neuva España writes, Benjamin Noval returned from the training camp in California with a serious knee injury and visited traumatologist, Antonio Maestro yesterday.
The rider from Mieres has a severe hemorrhage as well as a bruise to the crossed ligament that will prevent him from working for one month. Noval explains that he has been asked “not to set his foot on the ground for two weeks and then I shall start with rehabilitation. During the last training session in the U.S. I was not aware of the presence of a stone and I fell. This alters to some extent the plans for the Classics. I hope to be in good shape for the Amstel Gold Race, the Fleche Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège to help Hincapie, Gusev and Devolder.”
The training in California, according to Noval, was “hard as always, because we covered a lot of kilometres. It was good preparation. The problem is this interruption that prevents me from riding in Mallorca.”
Concerning the team and the new mates, "El Toro de Mieres" considers that Bruyneel has made a drastic change.
"We now have important riders like Basso, Leiphemer or Contador, on top of those that were already part of the team like Popovich, Danielson, Hincapie and Chechu Rubiera. I think we have the best rider for winning the Tour, like Basso. In my opinion, in our team there are many 'roosters' for the Tour with Ivan, Leiphemer, Hincapie, Contador, Danielson and Popovich. We hope that each one will adapt to his task. I already know what function is mine - work.”
In his schedule is the Tour and Vuelta. At 28, Noval knows that he will have to win his position for the Tour among the 12 riders selected.
"But it’s not important for me to go to France because I would be fresher for the Vuelta a España and I would have more liberty. Although we would have good riders like Danielson, Brajkovic and Chechu Rubiera."
9 DECEMBER 2006
La Neuva España has reported that Benjamín Noval has married to his fiancée Sara Alonso in Villoria, in the district of Laviana, Asturias.
400 guests attended the wedding last Friday. They left the church under an archway of bicycle wheels, thanks to Chechu and many of Benjamín's cyclist friends.
The couple will honeymoon in Costa Rica until 22 December when Benjamín will resume his preparation from the team training camp in Austin in January.
