Interview, biography and sports career Your discipline has always been motocross, what motivated you to take part in the Dakar?"They first offered me to do some raid tests in Tunisia. The experience was very different to what I expected and I liked it a lot, so when they asked me to race the Dakar I didn't even think about it. I had always thought about taking part, but it seemed so far away."
What does the Dakar mean to you?"Right now a challenge. It's a very hard race, putting the rider both physically and mentally to test, and I really love getting motivated for something like that."
Which will be your task? And your aim?"I'll basically try to learn, to help my team-mates and to reach the finish at Lake Rose."
You will participate in one of the best structures and with the best riders, is it an advantage or an inconvenience? "It's a big advantage. I feel really lucky for being in the Repsol KTM Team, because it means to start in the best possible way. Most of the riders have had very complicated beginnings and it took them a lot to count on something like what I'll be having. I'm a privileged person."
This will be your first competition on African ground, what do you think you are going to find?"Now I start to understand it a bit better, because I've been doing some tests in Tunisia and Morocco, but I was really shocked the first time. It's a totally different terrain with totally different landscapes compared to what I was used to. In the desert it seems as if there was nothing, but it's the contrary, there are countless surfaces, vegetation, dunes..."
What feelings have you got after the tests in Morocco?"Very positive ones. I've been riding through completely wild places, where there's only you and the bike so you just have to buck up. The dunes were the most amusing thing. I also felt really comfortable on the bike, although it's very different to what I was used to so far, both as regards weight and dimensions as well as the behaviour. The tests have been very good to start getting used to everything and understand the reactions."
How is the relation between you and your new team-mates?"We knew each other from the world of enduro, where we had met in races such as the 6 Days. The relationship is very good."
What would you highlight as a personal quality of yours?"I'm calm and reflective. I think everything over before taking any decision, but I think fast." Biography and sports career Nationality: SpanishDate of birth: January 4, 1980Place of birth: Igualada
Career highlights
1997: Runner-up Spanish Junior Motocross Championship12th Spanish 125cc Senior ChampionshipParticipation in the 6 Days of Italy with the Spanish Enduro Team1998: Participation in the 6 Days of Australia with the Spanish Enduro Team1999: 10th Spanish Motocross Open Championship6th Spanish 125cc Motocross Open Championship.2000: 6th Spanish Motocross Open Championship3rd Catalan Motocross Open ChampionshipBronze medal 6 Days of Granada with the Spanish Enduro Team2001: 7th Spanish Motocross Open ChampionshipCatalan Motocross Open ChampionshipBronze medal 6 Days of France with the Spanish Enduro Team2002: Runner-up Catalan Motocross Open ChampionshipParticipation in the 6 Days of the Czech Republic with the Spanish Enduro Team2003: Catalan Motocross Open Champion8th Spanish Motocross Open ChampionshipParticipation in the 6 Days of Brazil with the Spanish Enduro Team 2004: 6th Spanish Motocross Open ChampionshipParticipation in the Motocross des Nations in the Netherlands2005: 4th Spanish Motocross Open Championship
Jordi Viladoms, was born 25 years ago in Igualada. He made his first steps in the world of the two-wheels in BMX. He showed a very good style on the bicycle from the early stages. After becoming Spanish Champion and taking part in the World Championship, he began to look for new exciting challenges. The lack of races, of participation and of help to compete abroad took him to park the bike and to try his luck in motocross, a sport that was not new to him.
He started riding bikes at the same time as he learned to ride on a bicycle, at the young age of 4, when he would ride together with his father on an Italjet 50. At the age of twelve, Jordi Viladoms began taking part in Motocross races in the 80 cc class, and later in the 125cc and 250cc classes where he managed to become runner-up in the Spanish Junior Championship at the age of 18. Always responsible and conscious about his duties, he went to the University and thus the hours spent on the bike became less and less. He lost a bit of contact with competition, but both his parents and himself knew that not many had the chance to make a living out of motocross, and that there was the need to carve out a future for oneself. His stake was high and one year ago he got a degree in industrial engineering. From that moment on he decided to fully devote to the motorbike.
During the 2004 season he made a very important qualitative jump. He finished the Spanish Championship in sixth position, including three consecutive podium finishes in the second part of the season and several surgical interventions due to a shoulder injury. He was chosen to participate in the Motocross des Nations, among the three riders representing Spain, which was a reward for his great progression.
He faced his first season as a professional rider in 2005. With the support of sponsors such as Movistar and Repsol, and with Javier García Vico as team-mate, Jordi Viladoms faced the Spanish Motocross Championship with renewed excitement and ready to learn. It was a great chance and there were no excuses. Therefore, Jordi dedicated himself fully to motocross, something he has always been fighting for and he made it in the best team and with the best Spanish rider as his team-mate. Despite training harder than anyone else to be ready for the challenge, he injured his neck one week before the first race of the Championship after a crash in Crevillente, and was largely conditioned for the rest of the season. However, Viladoms competed against much more expert and prestigious riders in every race. In the fifth race of the season, staged in Guadarrama, he took his best partial result so far, third in the first leg. His perseverance and sacrifice were rewarded and in the following race he managed to get on the podium for the first time, after two third places in San Esteban Gormaz. In the second half of the season, and still suffering from the neck injury, he finished all legs among the top five. The young Spanish motocross promise was finally fourth in the overall standings.
Tough and a fighter, Jordi Viladoms will face a new challenge in 2006: his first participation in the Dakar. A challenge that will be filled with new things for this young Spaniard, who will face them with excitement and responsibility. The team, the bike, the discipline, the rivals, the race... Everything will be new, but it is with no doubt a project that adapts perfectly well to somebody with an improving and sacrificing spirit such as Jordi Viladoms. This industrial engineer, who has always had very clear ideas and his feet on the ground, will celebrate his twenty-sixth birthday in Africa, a territory he will be fighting for some day. With the main aim of learning and helping, he will take part in the Dakar with one of the best teams, the KTM Junior Team.
