As a child growing up in Valladolid – a flat, exposed part of central Spain – Iván Romeo was not watching cycling on television. His heroes weren’t Tour de France or Paris-Roubaix winners, but instead they were the likes of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. These were the players doing big things on the basketball court, who grabbed Romeo's attention with their flair, personality and panache. Cycling, the Movistar rider believes, could learn a thing or two from other sports.
“I would say most of my idols are basketball players, because the mentality they have is more like mine. Cycling is so quiet whereas I feel like I can relate to basketball more, I like how the players are,” the Romeo comments. “I think we miss that a bit in cycling.
“Keeping it fun in cycling, that’s something I’m trying to do. I think we’re sometimes too serious in general, the training camps and everything. Sometimes you don’t enjoy it. I’m a better cyclist when I’m relaxed and having fun. When I go to altitude and I’m super stressed, weighing my food, super focused, I’m not that good on the bike. When I’m at home, training with my friends, having fun, I might be one kilogram heavier but I’m a way better cyclist.”
Romeo’s outlook, especially for such a young rider, is rare in a professional bike racing landscape which is becoming more numbers and marginal gains obsessed by the season. It’s not that the 21-year-old doesn’t take his racing seriously, but it’s that he seems to have struck the right balance between staying focused without allowing his sport to be all-consuming. In the periods he needs to, Romeo goes all-in. His preparation for the under-23 time trial World Championships last season (which he eventually won by over half a minute) is the prime example of this.
Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
“I was there two weeks before with my dad. We rented a car and we were in Zurich just doing everything we could. I remember one day I had two hours easy, so we did a five kilometre loop with a really, really tricky descent that was going to be on the course. I rode it 15 times and my dad stood at the bottom telling me if it was clear from cars,” Romeo remembers. “That meant that I didn’t have too much on my mind for the time trial, my brain didn't have to do much, it was all in my legs.”
The Spaniard describes how that eventual rainbow jersey win at the end of last year gave him more confidence in his ability than ever before. Since then, Romeo has taken a huge step up in the 2025 season, securing his first professional victory on the third stage of Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and finishing fourth overall at the UAE Tour. His progress is slightly different from many of cycling’s current young superstars – Romeo wasn’t a prolific winner as a junior, but has come into his own as a professional.
“I think in Spain we race more at a national level in the under-16 and juniors, we don’t do many races outside of Spain. We have a different development and sometimes we explode later, you don’t see so many Spanish juniors at the top level but you do at under-23 level,” Romeo reflects.
“Young riders now have information about nutrition, altitude, and coaching that before only the best teams had. Many of us want everything immediately, we don’t have much patience. In my case I would say I’m lucky because I had good coaches and everything, I only got a power meter as a second year junior. I’ve never trained that much, so that’s given me a lot of margin to keep progressing every year. It’s really important, I’m 21 but still have a lot of development to do.”
Romeo’s fast rise from a relatively unknown junior rider to someone who is contesting tough WorldTour stage races means that he’s still coming to terms with his newfound place in the sport. Rubbing shoulders with riders like world champion Tadej Pogačar – a rider who Romeo says he looks up to as an example of a someone having fun while still winning – can sometimes feel surreal for the Movistar man.
“When I was racing in Valencia it was a bit different because it felt like I was at home. Even though I was doing these crazy things it felt a bit like training, like I’d done this before. But in UAE it was a WorldTour race with Pogačar there and you see yourself close to him and all the other big riders, sometimes it’s a bit like ‘what the hell is going on? This is weird.’ But I’ve felt like this quite often this season so I try to enjoy it and get used to it,” he smiles.
“Racing against Pogačar is strange because you are racing for second, to be honest. You saw what would happen if you tried to follow his wheel in the UAE. But it’s nice as you get to see what your level is as racing him is as difficult as it gets, it’s a good indication of where you are.”
Spain’s only WorldTour team, Movistar, is where Romeo believes is the right place to help him keep developing. He joined the Spanish outfit in 2023 as a second year under-23, after spending just one season on the Hagens Berman Axeon development squad following his graduation from the junior ranks. Since then, he’s had the opportunity to race a varied calendar, from stage races to the cobbled Classics, learning about the type of rider he is and what suits him.
“Joining Movistar was quite simple for me, they called me when I was a second year junior and I rode with Axeon for a year but I already had a contract with Movistar. They showed me trust from the start and I've always been a fan of the team. I’m happy here, I know I started my professional career young but they gave me two years to develop with no pressure and big opportunities,” Romeo explains.
“Doing all those different races helped me figure out what kind of cyclist I can be, I’m now starting to think I like stage races. I had some bad experiences in the Classics – they are hard because they are more about luck. You sacrifice so much then luck is what you need. It’s hard to prepare for those races, if you have a crash or are in a bad position on one climb then it’s over, it doesn’t matter how strong you are.”
Romeo is a rider who likes to let his legs do the talking. That’s why he excels in the time trial discipline, where it is all about man and machine – there is no luck involved. It’s skill and watts, personified.
“Time trials are all about the details. You can show what you have no matter what. You prepare perfectly and there’s no luck against you,” the Spanish athlete asserts. “Where I am from in Valladolid, it’s the best place to train for a TT because we have super long straight roads. If you want to train your time trial and your mental strength you go there because the landscape is all the same, it’s also really windy which helps too.”
When it comes to the race against the clock, Romeo is dreaming big. He says that competing against cycling’s top table in the World Championships is his dream, eventually sharing podiums with the likes of Remco Evenepoel, Josh Tarling and Filippo Ganna. 2025 will see him ride his first Grand Tour – provisionally the Tour de France if he is selected out of the 10 riders on Movistar’s long list. Above all, though, Romeo wants to ensure he does it all while having fun, living for the present, and not letting pressure get on top of him.
“It will all come with experience and consistency. That’s the most important thing. It takes time, I know I need to be patient. It can be hard when you are super close but riders my age get more fatigue from hard races and training,” the 21-year-old states. “But I don’t stress, I’m enjoying the moment and I’ll see where I can be in the future.
Cover image: SWpix.com
