On February 6, yesterday, El Chaba would have turned 50. He would have, if only he could…
December 6, 2003, a morning like any other at the San Miguel clinic in Madrid. Actually, no, because For José Maria Jimenez, not all days are the sameI am not anymore, since that damned octopus no longer wrapped itself in its coils. “El Chaba”, the savage, has been hospitalized for a long time to fight against depression, which never leaves him for a moment and which two years earlier led him to early retirement, on a cold February morning.
He was fully dressed, gloves, balaclava, his bike beautifully polished in the garage. He just had to go out: "Maybe I'll sit on the sofa for a moment" and that moment lasted hours, facing a fear never encountered beforeEven more terrible, because he couldn't find the reason. Finally, he called his sporting director, Eusebio Unsué: "Forgive me, my career ends here."
On Lap 1999
Since then it has been an “in and out” from the clinic. The days are never the same, there are those who are “down” in which there doesn't seem to be a future and the "up" ones where José dreams of getting back on his bike and challenging that guy, the RomagnaThere has never been a fair comparison between the two: it could have been in 1999 at the Giro, but then the Spaniard was not in top form. He tried to contain Pantani's fury in the climb to Gran Sasso, but the only result was to be the “best of humans”, coming within 23” of the Pirate, first in the standings and Jimenez second. The Spaniard soon struggled, finishing 33rd, and Pantani, well, we all know how that Giro ended…
The rematch could have come a few months later at the Vuelta, where Jimenez was in top form. On the Angliru he drove everyone crazy, but Marco wasn't there.
El Chaba y Marco
El Chaba often thinks about PantaniNot exactly a friend, but there is something they have in common, perhaps the Gascon way of tackling climbs that others fear so much, because it is certainly not the effort that is frightening. Perhaps the real challenge between the two was the one on July 16, 2000, at Tour. Jimenez is unleashed, he's leaving on the Madeleine even though there's a long way to go until the finish line with a handful of fellow adventurers who gradually get lost along the way. For many kilometers the others don't gain any ground, until they are told that Behind it, a great battle raged between the Pirate and Lance Armstrong who had mocked him for his victory at Mont Ventoux. In the end, Pantani angrily shook him off, continuing to push.
“But what have I done to you?” thinks Jimenez. Pantani is a tornado that gains with every pedal stroke and sweeps everything away and the Spaniard is downwind. He catches him with 3 kilometers to go, tries to hold on, but it's a desperate move. He'll finish 40" behind. It's not over, it can't end like this...
The last escape
It's a beautiful morning at the San Miguel clinic, many relatives of patients recognize him and shyly approach him for an autograph, for a few photos. It's a beautiful morning, José says yes to everyone, but then he stops. "Sorry, I suddenly have a terrible headache, let me sit down." He sits, but it doesn't go away. They call the doctors on duty, something's wrong. They take him away immediately. It's a heart attack. This time it's an unexpected escape and they can't take him back. José is leaving us, at only 32 years old, but Pantani will follow him closely, two months later and that challenge that everyone wanted to see remained in the fans' imagination, without an overall winner. On February 6th, José María would have turned 50: if you look for his name in the rolls of honour of the grand Tours, it is not thereAnd yet he was great precisely because he knew how to capture the collective imagination. Not everyone can do that.
