Sergio Martínez Martínez

Outstanding athlete. A legendary figure in Cuban cycling, regarded by many as "The King of Cuba's Roads." Winner of several national and international tournaments.

He was born in the hamlet of Pipián, about 15 kilometers from Madruga, in the current province of La Habana. He spent his childhood working in the fields to help support his family, especially cutting sugarcane. With his first savings, he managed to buy himself a bicycle in 1961, on which he traveled about 20 kilometers daily.

In 1961 he participated in a provincial tour, and was quickly recruited for the national pre-selection, where he stood out despite being unknown and was part of the 4,000-meter team pursuit that finished in an honorable fourth place during the Central American and Caribbean Games in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1962. He later participated in two other regional competitions and another Pan-American event, but his greatest glory came in the Tours of Cuba.

He won outright the I Vuelta Ciclística a Cuba in 1964, prevailing in six of the 12 stages disputed, and forever planted the tour in the soul of a fan base that until then had no other cycling satisfactions than the two gold medals won by time trialist Reinaldo Paseiro at the Central American Games in Guatemala and Medellín.

He then also prevailed in the third, fifth, and sixth tours. Chosen among the 10 athletes of Cuba in the first decade after the revolutionary triumph, the spectacular road cyclist could not achieve better results because this discipline was barely beginning to be practiced scientifically in Cuba and also lacked an adequate competitive calendar. Another of his frustrations were accidents.

In 1971, during the Vuelta Ciclística itself, he suffered the first one and had to abandon the race, and a year later, when he dreamed of attending the Munich Olympic Games, he was hit by a car while returning to Madruga after a training session. From the latter he could not recover and chose to retire, but he left a record of 25 stages won in the main cycling tour on the Island.

On September 5, 1979, while returning home after a work session, then coach Sergio Martínez suffered a motorcycle accident on the bike he was traveling on. After 27 days of fighting for his life, the King of Cuba's Roads died in a capital hospital on October 2, 1979.

Palmares
Bronze at the Pan American Games in Cali 1971 (individual pursuit).
Silver at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Panamá 1970 (team pursuit).
Bronze at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Panamá 1970 (individual pursuit).
Bronze at the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Juan 1966 (team pursuit).
Gold at the I Vuelta Ciclística a Cuba 1964.
Gold at the III Vuelta Ciclística a Cuba 1966.
Gold at the V Vuelta Ciclística a Cuba 1968.
Gold at the VI Vuelta Ciclística a Cuba 1969.
Silver at the II Vuelta Ciclística a Cuba 1965.
Bronze at the IV Vuelta Ciclística a Cuba 1967.
Bronze at the VIII Vuelta Ciclística a Cuba 1972.