Vladimír Kováčik: from masseur to rival of Evenepoel and Van Aert at the Montreal event

The Montreal event could still produce one of its most unusual stories. The team will have a rider on the start line for Sunday’s men’s elite race, but not one of those originally planned by the national team: Vladimír Kováčik, who arrived in Canada as a member of the Slovak staff, will ultimately start the race.

Kováčik, 28, was in Montreal as the team’s masseur. However, a succession of withdrawals left the team without an available representative, forcing the federation into an extreme solution: handing a race number to its own masseur.

The choice is not a complete newcomer to cycling. Kováčik was once a rider and competed at continental level before remaining involved in the sport on the other side of the barrier. His last participation in races of a certain level reportedly dates back nine years, when he raced events on the V4 countries calendar.

The absences of Matthias Schwarzbacher, recovering from surgery, and Martin Svrček, who had physical problems, complicated matters. Lukáš Kubiš, the team’s leading reference, was not allowed to travel to the event by his team Unibet Rose Rockets, which chose to focus on its own sporting objectives.

For the federation, having no rider at all on the start line was not without risk. Head coach Jakub Vančo explained that the team had to meet its participation obligations and that an absence could have significant consequences for UCI points, particularly with the future qualification process for Los Angeles 2028 in mind. A solution therefore had to be found among the people already in Montreal who also met the necessary licensing requirements.

“Our participation will be purely formal,” Vančo acknowledged. Kováčik met both conditions: he was already in Canada and was administratively eligible to start.

While Evenepoel, Van Aert, Van der Poel, Ayuso and Enric Mas prepare for a 274-kilometre battle for the rainbow, the team will pursue a radically different goal. Having arrived a few days ago to prepare his teammates’ legs, Kováčik will now have to prepare his own, directly for the event. For him, simply being there will already be enough.