He was an inspiration for Josep Garcia, the 2017 Enduro 2 World Champion, who studied his psychological approach closely. Garcia tried to ride like him, like Ivan Cervantes, who became the first Spaniard ever to win the Enduro World Championship in 2005.
He went on to win five of them, even if he was from a country that didn’t have a great tradition of Enduro before his arrival on the scene.
Born in the coastal town of Cambrils in 1982, Cervantes made his debut on a yellow 50cc Merlin in a race in La Molina in the Catalan Pyrenees. He started out as a Motocross rider and then switched to Enduro, which was deemed “the ugly duckling of motorcycling” in Spain at the time. At least this is how Cervantes himself explained it to the El Mundo newspaper in 2006.
In the very same interview he declared himself positively jealous of Fernando Alonso and Daniel Pedrosa, leading Spanish Formula1 and MotoGP riders at the time. He ends up in Enduro almost by chance after an accident during the Motocross world championship in Bellpuig. He hurt his shoulder, and the doctor prescribed him four months of rest. Moreover, he ordered him to stop riding Motocross because of the physical strain. In exchange, however, he could try Enduro. So he got on his father’s Honda. After the first tests, he starts competing with KTM, for which he had also raced in the Motocross World Championship.
He admits that, during his first Enduro test, he didn’t quite understand what was happening. Until Isidre Esteve, a contender in the Spanish national championships, used several drawings to explain to him how the events – including the time controls’ technicalities – work. The beginning was quite encouraging, the first special test even better: despite falling twice, he still arrived seven seconds ahead of Anders Eriksson, several-times World Champion.
Cervantes is crowned national champion. KTM’s official team nominates him for the World Championship, but he was nervous in Finland, he’s not the Cervantes that everyone knows. The overarching desire to win betrays him and his ambition becomes an enemy to defeat. The rider Kari Tiainen gives him the best advice ever. “It’s your first World Championship. Don’t think about winning, but about having fun”, he tells him. It works.
From then on, Enduro is his new home: the discipline makes him feel totally at ease. He collects many great memories, but none beat 8 October 2005, the day in which he wins his first World Championship. In many ways, this title is also his father’s: he had steered him towards motorcycling and always believed in him.
Cervantes broke many barriers with that first title in the E1 category. He rode to victory ahead of France’s Marc Germain with a KTM EXC-F 250, featuring a double overhead camshaft engine and not available on the market yet at the time. The next year he won again, this time ahead of Italy’s Simone Albergoni. In 2007 and 2009, he claimed the world title also in the E3 category.
He competes until 2016 when he abandons the Enduro World Championship in order to dedicate himself to rallying and the Dakar. They call him “El Torito” because he races with the symbol of a bull on his bike, Taurus being his zodiac sign. He also commits himself to other projects and has been collaborating with the Royal Spanish Motorcycle Federation since 2018. “My entire life, ever since I started racing, I would have never imagined that what was once a hobby would become my passion and my work. I have been very lucky to be able to compete the Farioli Team in Enduro, and the Himoinsa team in rally and Dakar”.
On the day of his final farewell to racing, at the French Grand Prix in Cahors, he stirs everyone’s emotions. Fabio Farioli, the first person who had believed in his ability to succeed in the Enduro World Championship, is particularly moved. Josep Garcia is there as well. A mechanic, who used to work with Cervantes after 2005, is part of his team now. Cervantes has always taken care of young Josep – on and off the track.
Cervantes decides to quit when he understands that, because of various injuries and apart from some special tests, he isn’t as competitive as he would like to be anymore. Furthermore, after fourteen years of an incredibly successful career, his father’s unexpected illness steals some of his motivation.
Therefore, he agrees to put his experience at the service of a new challenge. He collaborates with the Spanish Federation to improve the organisation of the competitions and also looks after a multi-brand team composed of four young riders racing in the Junior classes of the World Championships. Having Cervantes, an Enduro legend for the whole of Spain, as your point of reference is a significant advantage, that has to be exploited, for anyone aspiring to be a champion.
Cervantes once said that Enduro “is a wonderful sport that needs to be respected and supported. It has given me a lot and now I hope to give something back”.
