CAPE TOWN, – Spanish football legend Luis Enrique is back and raring to go.
On 19 March, the former player and manager whose exploits with Barcelona and Spain made him a giant of the game, will line up for his third Absa Cape Epic, having finished the world’s most famous mountain bike stage race in 2013 and 2018.
In 2023, he is teaming up with his brother and joining a host of international road cycling greats tackling Africa’s ultimate untamed MTB race, including European and Australian riders who lit up the Tour de France in their heyday.
Other big names in the field include Australia’s former road cycling champions Mitchell Docker and Lachlan Morton, former Tour de France stage winner Dave Millar, his sister and Belstaff CEO Fran Millar, Grand Tour legend Vincenzo Nibali and former Dutch road giant Niki Terpstra.
Enrique, who managed the Spanish national football team at the last World Cup in Qatar, has long been known as a passionate cyclist, and his social media posts leading up to this year’s event suggest that he’s a man on a mission.
His training on the bike and in the gym has been intense, putting him in good shape for the event.
He will be riding an MMR Kenta SL, and he recently visited the bike factory to touch base with head engineer Chechu Rubiera to ensure all was in order with his machine.
In his playing days as an enterprising midfielder and forward, Enrique played more than 500 games and scored more than 100 goals for Real Madrid and Barcelona. He also represented Spain at three World Cups, and was a member of the squad that took gold at the 1992 Olympics.
He called time on his playing career in 2002 before embarking on what would prove to be an illustrious career in management.
Before that began, however, he remained highly active, taking part in the New York and Amsterdam marathons, Frankfurt Ironman and even putting his surfing skills to the test.
Starting out his managerial career at Barcelona’s B team in 2008, he moved on to Italian Series A club AS Roma in 2011, though it did not prove to be a happy hunting ground for the Spaniard as they failed to qualify for any European competition.
After a brief stint at RC Celta de Vigo, he then joined Barcelona where he had enjoyed so much success as a player. With Lionel Messi and Neymar in the team, he soon became unstoppable and in April 2015 he recorded his 42nd win after 50 games as manager – a record streets ahead of others.
That same year he won the treble with the Spanish giants, followed by the double the following year.
Enrique took the helm of Spain in 2018, a tenure that ended with the nation being knocked out in the Round of 16 at the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
Now it’s Africa’s Untamed MTB Race that has all his attention, and football fans will no doubt be clamouring to get a sight of their hero as he rides the Absa Cape Epic again, this time free of the pressures of international soccer.
The 2023 edition of the Absa Cape Epic takes place over 658km from 19-26 March.