Chamba, the Mongolian cyclist who lets himself be conquered by Europe in O Gran Camiño

The lack of big names allows O Gran Camiño to become an opportunity to remember that there are many forms of cycling, that the proletarians also ride, and that they are exciting. And, sadly, to conclude, that the class struggle in cycling is an illusion. The first stage was won, on Matosinhos beach, a sandy area next to the great port of Porto, by Magnus Cort Nielsen, a Dane as famous for his very blond moustache that he dyes dark in the Tour as for his important victories, very fast, in the Vuelta (six), Tour (two) and Giro.

Surrounding him, a motley platoon.

The irony, and the smile of superiority, is inevitable when listening to Jambaljamts Sainbayar (“shorten, call me Chamba”, he asks) thank fate for allowing him to be not only a professional cyclist but also one in a Spanish team, in Burgos Burpellet, no less. His small body (1.71m, 60 kilos) and his permanent smile do not allow, in any case, to associate his figure with the image that since childhood the great novels and some films have created of the Mongols, the fierce conquering warriors whom Genghis Khan, great head of Omar Sharif, led in the 14th century to the gates of the West, and they dismembered their prisoners by tying each of their limbs, two arms, two legs, to a horse and urging the beasts in opposite directions, and with their heads they played polo. “But I am proud of Mongolian culture and its legends,” says Chamba in magnificent English, a gentle bicycle conqueror who was born 28 years ago in the capital, Ulaanbaatar (a red hero, a toponym dating back to Soviet domination), the coldest capital in the world: the average high temperature in February is -15 degrees Celsius. “I have loved cycling since I was a child and I started at the sports institute, where we had a cycling coach who had trained in Russia. And I am the first professional cyclist from Mongolia.”

Chamba became, in four seasons, one of the most outstanding riders on the Asian circuit. He rode for Ukrainian, Malaysian and Taiwanese teams, and won the Tour of Thailand, the Mongolian national championship (11 cyclists in the peloton) and stages in different races endowed with valuable UCI points. A gold mine for European teams looking for riders with a good bag of points that allow them to survive in the league standings. A real treat for Burgos, who signed him for the 2024 season. “We are doing the Asian campaign with the team and we realised that Chamba was the most consistent rider and that he had a lot of points in Asia, a good investment. And that is why we took him on, without further ado,” says Julio Andrés Izquierdo, the head of the Spanish second division team. “He moved very well in Asia, but here it is difficult for him. The first year it was a bit difficult for him to adapt, and even more so because we made him debut in the WorldTour in the Volta a Catalunya… But this year he is already getting into shape.”

The Mongolian champion is not the only exotic cyclist in the team from the austere Castilian capital. In O Gran Camiño there is also a New Zealander (Josh Burnett), the champion from Uruguay (Eric Fagúndez) and the champion from Guatemala (Sergio Chumil). All of them, like Chamba, are accommodated by the team in a hotel in the city.

Chamba defines himself as a complete runner, a climber for climbs of no more than 10 or 20 minutes and a good time trialist, and also a sprinter. “I am what the geography of Mongolia has made me, a great country, although most of us live in Ulan Bator, the steppe, large plains at 1,500 meters above sea level, and always a lot of wind, and a lot of cold,” he explains. “My whole family lives in Mongolia, but I started leaving the country when I was 15. It is so cold that I can barely train and I spend at most two months a year there. The rest of the time I am in Spain or training in the south of Asia, in China or in Thailand, where it is always hot.”

By the refinery towards Leça beach and the natural pool of Siza Vieira, he arrives in Matonsinhos with the Chamba peloton. He takes part in the sprint and is 14th. The Mongolian in purple is better than Urko Berrade, the Kern favourite, who punctures and loses a minute. “I won’t stop until I achieve my objectives,” says Chamba, a not so exotic presence in the proletarian peloton. “I will take part in a grand tour.” A few minutes after his easy victory over the Colombian from Porriño, Santiago Mesa, behind the fence, on the rocks of the Sardoal waterfall, the Danish winner takes a long drink from a bottle of recovery shake, bends at the waist and vomits. Everyone, even the champions, is a proletarian on the pedals at heart.