From Olympic cycling gold to ski race winner and instructor: Samuel Sánchez’s new sporting successes
When Samuel Sánchez retired from professional cycling in 2017 after an illustrious 17-year career, he did so knowing that his competitive instincts would one day force his return to the racing arena.
“An athlete who has been at the highest level of his sport will always enjoy competing,” said the 2008 Olympic road race champion and six-time Grand Tour stage winner cycling weekly. “But I didn’t see myself as a cyclist in my 40s. That didn’t motivate me.”
Instead, the Spaniard turned back to his first love at the age of 39. “I grew up with the snow, I’m a snow person and my family are mountaineers,” he says. “I learned to ski when I was very young and did so until I was 18.
“In the winter I had an alpine ski race in the morning and when the ski station was closed I went cross-country skiing with the owner of the rental shop who was preparing me for the bike. I spent many years balancing my days like this.”
However, devoting his life to cycling at the age of 18 meant Sánchez had to put down his skis and he didn’t dust them off until he closed the door on a cycling career that included 34 wins, including a second on GC at both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.
But as soon as he started heating down the slopes again, it didn’t take long for his passion for skiing to regain a foothold.
In winter 2020/21 he qualified as a level 2 ski instructor and then started to ski giant slalom. The results were exceptional: in his first season as champion in the 40-45 category, Sánchez competed in four different events, winning one Spanish Cup, finishing second in another and also taking a third place. His transition from bike racing to ski racing was seamless.
However, Sánchez, forever possessing the mentality of a top athlete, is not content with his burgeoning ski Palmarès. “I still have so much to improve,” he believes. “One day I would love to compete in the Ski Masters World Cup, but I know the people who compete in these races and they have been racing for many years since they were young.
“That’s why I have the ambition and the desire to keep improving, to train more and to get better every time, because the truth is I have to get better.”
The current winter has been so frustrating for Sánchez, who also runs a successful junior cycling team, MMR Cycling Academy, that he would like to one day move up to a professional team. “Because of professional commitments, I didn’t set a ski start number this year,” he says.
Still, he hopes to compete in April’s Spanish Championships in the Sierra Nevada, a race he finished seventh last year. “I didn’t do anything right,” he recalls. “I just didn’t ski well.” But he proved last year that he can compete for victory.
“The speed,” he continues before pausing for emphasis, “the speed, in the end, man, you’ve got it in you. It’s like a bicycle: you either have it or you don’t. Skiing gives me freedom because you are in the middle of the mountains, but above all it allows me to improve as an athlete.”
His almost two decades as a professional cyclist have helped him tremendously as a competitive skier. “The bike helped me interpret the right line,” says the 45-year-old, who divides his winter between his local mountains in Asturias and the Val d’Aran in the Pyrenees.
(Image credit: Fototur)
“You cycle down a mountain pass at 70 km/h without sometimes knowing what is coming. It’s the same with skiing: you go to a race and the only thing you know about the course is to ski down it very slowly one time, so you have to get it in your head. When you start, it’s just you, your ability to interpret the course and then take the right line.”
The margin for error in ski racing can be tiny. “I love the feeling of driving through the gates – it’s very, very, very technical,” he continues. “The little technical management that you need is impressive. It requires a lot of attention and what I like about it is that you are never satisfied with how you ski. I’m never satisfied with my descent when I’m done.
“Skiing and all other sports are constantly evolving and you are always learning. You always want the perfect swing, you always want to get better and especially when it comes to skiing you always want to be better than your buddies. You can have a great run, but the next one has to be better. That’s why you have to practice for many hours.”
It is this commitment to improvement that led him to become a qualified instructor. “I did it to really understand what good skiing technique is,” he explains, “and to know why people fail to turn and what moves you need to make to ski well. I consider myself a little ski nerd!”
That’s how he became Professor de esquI? “NO!” he laughs. “I don’t want to take classes, I’m not going to start teaching young kids — I did it for my own knowledge.”
While this winter’s unrivaled season may have been a disappointment for Sánchez so far, his hopes of making it to the World Masters arena remain undiminished and he also has his eye on something particularly offbeat from his sponsor Salomon.
“I have a gold bike,” he points out, a privilege he owes to winning the Olympics, “so I thought about asking Salomon’s CEO if he would give me a pair of gold ski boots!”
Become a ski world champion and maybe his dream will come true.