Rubén Nova, new ambassador of the Idemticos project of the Fundación Contador

The family of ambassadors of the Idemticos project is growing. The Mallorcan Rubén Nova (10 March 1990) joins the Contador Foundation’s initiative to promote cycling among people with functional diversity. In July 2020, when he was then a football player and captain of Club Esportiu Andratx in the Majorcan third division, Nova suffered a traffic accident with his motorbike near Banyalbufar in which he ended up suffering a fracture of the D-4 vertebra that caused him to lose mobility from the chest down.

Nova is a great lover of physical activity and sport. “I’ve always needed to be active, doing something,” he says. Parabadminton was the first activity in which he started to excel after the rehabilitation process of the accident, with very good results at national level. Cycling, in this context, was another means of preparation. However, due to persistent physical problems with the head of one of his femurs, the Mallorcan has started to get closer to the world of adapted cycling. “The point is to be able to do sport,” he proclaims.

“In Toledo, at the Hospital de Parapléjicos, I saw bikes every day, but I didn’t think it was for me. It seemed very dangerous to me and it’s also true that those were the days of confinement when everything was more complicated. Back in Mallorca, my father gave me a handbike so that I could do some sport at home, more as a gym exercise than cycling in itself. One day, a year and a half ago or so, I decided to go out with some friends from the village who usually cycle. I was riding very carefully, but when I picked up speed and by the time I realised it, I was practically on the verge of tears because of the feeling of freedom. I really enjoyed it”, he explains.

“I am very excited about Rubén joining the Idemticos project,” says Paco Romero, general manager of the social area of the Contador Foundation. “I am sure that the energy and enthusiasm he brings with him will be a great motivation for all of us. His contribution will be very valuable and, together with the other ambassadors, they will continue to help us to promote cycling among people with disabilities or functional diversity. Rubén is an admirable person, a great example of enthusiasm, effort and self-improvement”.

With regard to the Idemticos project, Nova says: “I had seen Eva Moral wearing the kit of a cycling team, but I didn’t associate it with the Contador Foundation. One day Paco contacted me, explained to me what the Idemticos project was all about, and even then I thought it was great to be able to join in to give more visibility to adapted sport”.

As a result of his growing experiences with the handbike, the Balearic athlete was one of the participants in the last talent recruitment days held by the Spanish Cycling Federation in Tarancón (Cuenca) in early December 2022: “A very good experience, I enjoyed it a lot; the biggest problem I have encountered so far is that in my area of residence, in Andratx, we are completely surrounded by mountains and it is not easy for me to make trips of many kilometres. I would have to travel to other parts of the island to find flatter areas, with all that this implies on a daily basis. I’m trying out an electric handbike which makes it a bit easier for me to go out and gives me a bit more freedom”.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)