Jakub Novák

Jakub  Novák,  a  multiple  Champion  of  Slovakia, participant at the European Championship and World Championship. Former member of continental teams WindoorsPříbram and Amore Vita Conad.

1.Your  cycling  beginnings  date  back to your childhood in Prešov. There were many good cyclists at that time, particularly your team was really strong backthen. How do you remember your first cycling years back in Prešov?

I do think of my cycling beginnings in TJ Lokomotíva SWAM Prešov team very often indeed. When I first joined the team, as a young cadet back in 2000, I rememberwe  had really strong riders in all the age categories. All the age groups were much bigger in number than they are these days. We were like a big family in theteam  with  the  Juniors guiding us and teaching us all about the sport. It was a big challenge to us as we saw them winning, so we were happy they shared theirexperience  with  us. The most important things I know about cycling though I learned from two very successful female riders within the international peloton atthat  time – Alena Barilová and Lenka Ilavská. I enjoyed being part of every youth age group – each year I got to learn something new about cycling, later on aswe  travelled  to  races  all  across the country I got to see and discover new towns and places. I still remember the long hours of hard work back in the cadetcategory  –  hard  training  and  a  strict  discipline rewarded by victories in many of the numerous races in a year. During the transition year from cadets tojuniors,  it was Ľudovít Pavela who was coaching me – his approach was truly professional, at a top level of those days. Daily hard work, tough training with norespect  to  bad weather conditions. Our coach would consult our Polar results 5 times a week, so he knew right away what we did and if we did it the right way.These  demanding  years rewarded us with great performance level and many victories. The 6 years spent in Prešov was really one of the best part of my life in away.

2. As you entered the Elite Men category, you left abroad right away. How did this happen?

Joining the Czech Cycling Team Windoor’s Příbram was a very tough decision actually – I was only 17 back then, still had to complete my high school studies... Ialso  could  have  joined the Slovak Železiarne Podbrezová or Dukla Trenčín teams, but I had this vision of me cycling somewhere abroad, I planned to go furtherway. So I accepted František Trkal’s offer when he addressed me in a World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia.

3. What are your memories of the years spent in Czech republic?

I do think of these days quite often, and will never forget this part of my life - I spent 3 years in the city of Příbram, that’s a long time. Long time withoutmy  family,  my home and friends at the age of 17. When I moved in, 2 songs played a very important role in my life “Living in a foreign town” by Jana Kirschnerand “1+1 there and back” by Michal Hrúza. But of course I did get used to living in my new home, I found new friends and even attended a school for 2 years.

4.You later joined a continental team Amore Vita Conad in Italy. How did this happen? What are your memories of this time?

Oh  Italy  was  the  country  of  my dreams ever since I started riding my bike. I managed the whole transfer myself. It cost me a lot of time, energy and phonecalls/emails – and my good palmares of course. Another cyclist, a Russian Ladislav Borisov helped me with my first contacts with this team. My memories of Italyand  races  of  that  time will never fade. I still have tons of pictures from races and times off the race, I even kept almost all Road Books. Incredible timesspent  on my bike in the beautiful mountainous countryside. If I should name the races that appealed to me the most on Italian soil, it would definitely be Girode la Calabria, Giro di Sardena 2.1., Memorial Marco Pantani and all World Cups 1.1.

5. After leaving Amore Vita, you disappeared from cycling. Why happened?

You  are  right,  I  took the year 2011 off. Kind of involuntarily though. I was in contact with Dukla Trenčín and was about to join the team in March 2011 whensuddenly  they  called  it off. Lesson learned from this experience – never trust a contract unless it’s duly signed. It was too late to get a contract anywhereelse.

6. After  a  short break, you continue cycling in Cycling Team Banská Bystrica. How do you see this cooperation so far? Do you have any ambitions and goals forthe upcoming years?

Honestly speaking, I’m very happy I joined CT BB. I truly believe the team will continue to evolve, people behind it, especially Martin Fraňo, have the drive tomove it on. It does depend on all of us as well – we can help the team by good performance and good results. It’s a cooperation of everyone in the team with thesame goal.

7.You are a multiple Champion of Slovakia, member of European Championship and World Championship. Which result do you personally merit the most and why?

I have many challenge-cups on a shelf at my home, never counted them though. As for the gold medals, I have 26 of them – from the youth categories up to U23,the  most important of them are from my Junior and U23 categories. And just to show off a little bit, I do have to mention an unofficial Czecho-Slovakia Gold ina  time  trial for 22km back in my Junior category. I managed to defeat all top Czech and Slovak riders in the joint National Championship. I am also very proudof my result in Giro de la Calabria where I was ranked as the 13. best young rider U25. I guess I should not omit one of my lasts victories – I won the NationalChampionship 2010 on road in Kyjov, Czech Republic (our Nationals are always organized by the two federations – Czech and Slovak together) and was the strongestof all U23 riders and even of all Slovak Elite riders.