Majorca sport’s first great legend, Guillem Timoner, has died at the age of 97.

Among his international achievements are his six world championships in the middle-distance event and eight medals at the Track Cycling World Championships between 1955 and 1965. Being a sportsman was seen as a ‘rare bird’ in Spain. Furthermore, he was the Spanish coach at the Munich Olympic Games (1972).

He was born in Felanitx in his mid-20s, as a child he had to live Civil war and in full adolescence post-war. At a time when citizens are trying to get out of poverty as best they can or know how to do it, Timoner found his starting point in the two-wheeled “trade” that was so popular on Mallorca and first appeared on the island in 1892: interestingly, at a race held in Felanitx.

It’s not strange for Timoner to dedicate himself to cycling because In the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, two-wheeling was the most important sport in Mallorca. In fact, there was no town on the island that didn’t have a velodrome, a ring full of people when competitions were held. happened The perfect ecosystem for the emergence of Majorca’s great cycling legendnational and global.

Guillem Timoner won the first Spain Championship On the track at the Tortosa velodrome on July 7, 1945. From that moment on, his career became unstoppable: he won six world titles after the moto-stainer (Milan 1955, Amsterdam 1959, Leipzig 1960, Milan 1962, Paris 1964 and San Sebastián 1965) and did it. Two silver medals at the World Championships in Copenhagen (1956) and Paris (1958).

He later won three World Cups (1960, 1963 and 1965). Won the Nations Grand Prix six times (1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1966). And he became the champion of Spain up to 23 times in different ways, the last one at the age of 58.

helmsman Won more than 1,500 races between 1940 and 1968. And after retiring from competition, he continued to participate in tests for veterans. In fact, in 1995, at the age of 69, he achieved his last official title: European champion in the Veterans category at an average speed of 37.4 kilometers per hour on a 53.4-kilometer route.

He won his first world title in 1955 and his daughter was born.

His life has always revolved around the bike.. Accompanying him and his wife, who passed away in 2021, wherever they go: Barcelona, ​​Brussels, Paris… She won her first world title in 55, and a few weeks later her daughter was born.Two very important events in his life, the first of which he always talks about while reviewing his career.

After getting off the bike He first opened a grocery store in Portocolom and then a sports store in Felanitx.. Regarding his long sports career, Timoner has always revealed that his routine has changed. “It depended on the careers I had. I quit other competitions while preparing for a world championship. And I trained for three or four hours a day,” he explained, in his home in Felanitx in 2013, having installed exercise bikes for pedaling while watching TV or even typing. At that time, the disease that accompanied him in his last years had not yet manifested itself.