Wheels Keep On Turning in U.S. for Cuban Cyclist

When cyclist Ivan Dominguez identifies a small opening during a race, he takes advantage of it, shooting through the aperture.

The same can be said in life for Dominguez, 29, who defected from Cuba at one of the earliest opportunities he had.

“I was like everyone,” Dominguez said. “Everyone’s looking for a better future. If I was going to stay there, right now I’d be sitting at home with nothing to do.”

Instead, Dominguez had a busy Sunday, earning third place in a field of 175 in the Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix.

“Coming to the finish, I was behind and in the last turn started gaining speed,” said Dominguez, who estimated that he reached 40 mph on the final bend. “It was a very fast race, the whole time I was going 35 to 40 mph.”

In 1997, Dominguez realized that the Cuban national team’s financial situation was worsening. A number of his teammates were barred from competing after being charged with smuggling cigars when traveling to competitions.

Dominguez, who raced with the team for five years, soon decided that emigrating would be in his best interest.

“The money you make racing, you have to give almost all back to the Cuban government,” said Dominguez, who was the country’s highest-ranked cyclist. “If you won a race and got $10,000, you’d give them the money and only get $100 or $200. It didn’t make any sense.”

Dominguez, known as a talented sprinter, originally planned to stay in Canada after the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg. But, while at the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York, he decided to defect.

After his team finished competing, Dominguez told teammates that he was going out for a sandwich and never returned.

Though the most publicized Cuban defections involve baseball players, among them Livan and Orlando Hernandez and more recently Angel prospect Kendry Morales, Dominguez is among those from other sports who have left Cuba.

He stayed with acquaintances for two nights in New York before moving to Miami with friends.

“The main problem was the language,” Dominguez said. “There weren’t many Latin Americans, so I had to learn English somehow.”

Dominguez didn’t touch a bike for seven months, but he slowly returned to the sport when he was lent one.

He rode for Saturn for three years and now represents Health Net Pro Cycling. Dominguez is the only Cuban on the team, which also includes riders from the United States, Canada and New Zealand.

“I get the chance to go everywhere,” Dominguez said. “I have an American friend who told me that I know America better than he does.”

He won the inaugural New York City Cycling Championships in 2002, a race that featured seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. More recently, he finished first at May’s CSC Invitational in Arlington, Va.

“He has a great sense of humor,” said Thierry Attias, Health Net’s president. “Ivan is a phenomenal sprinter and a team player.”

Dominguez began cycling when he was 14. A coach came to his school looking for recruits. Dominguez signed up and quickly moved up the ranks, performing with the youth team before moving on to the national team. His first road bike was provided by the Cuban government.

Dominguez now lives in Chatsworth with his cocker spaniel, Ugo, and races in about 70 events annually.

“I love it,” Dominguez said. “You can do a lot of stuff here. I got used to it really quick.”

And his one complaint?

“California’s the state of traffic,” Dominguez said. “There are not too many cars in Cuba. The gas is really expensive. Normally they ride a bike.”

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Health Net made it a clean sweep Sunday, with Greg Henderson winning the men’s race and Tyler Farrar, last year’s winner, finishing second.

“It’s all teamwork,” Henderson said. “One weekend you win and another weekend another teammate will win.”

Ina Yoko Teutenberg, a 10-time German national champion, won the women’s race.

“The team did a really good job,” said Teutenberg, who races for T-Mobile.