Date and place of birth: 06/05/1974, Badalona (Spain)
Age: 31
Nationality: Spanish
Weight: 87kg
Height: 183cm

Sporting Biography 

1984: Competes in his first race
1989: 80cc Catalunya Champion
1993: Debut in 125cc Spanish Championship
1994: 250cc Regional Motocross Champion
1996: 250cc European Motocross Champion
Silver medal for Sporting Merit
1997: Debut in World Championship
250cc Spanish Motocross and Supercross Champion
1998-99-00:   250cc Spanish Motocross Champion
1999: 7^th 500cc Motocross World Championship
1^st 500cc Bologna Motorshow
2000: 17^th 500cc Motocross World Championship
2001: 4^th 500cc Motocross World Championship
Spanish Open Motocross Champion
2002: 3^rd  500cc Motocross World Championship (6 podiums)
First Spanish rider ever to win in World Championship (Russian GP)
Individual victory at Motocross of Nations
Spanish Open Motocross Champion
2003: Runner-up 650cc Motocross World Championship (podium in all twelve races)
Spanish Open Motocross Champion
2004: 22^nd MX1 World Championship (Aprilia) (7 rounds contested)
13^th Spanish Open Motocross Champion (2 meetings contested, 4 victories)
2^nd Barcelona and San Sebastián Supercross

Personal biography

The fact that motocross is a growing sport in Spain is thanks largely to Javier García Vico. Born on 6^th May 1974 in Badalona, Javi is recognised as a true star far beyond our borders and is admired not only for his strength and talent on a motorcycle, but for his easy-going character and generosity. He chose a career in motocross even though he knew that if he wanted to ride against the best, he would have to leave Barcelona. Javi wasted no time packing his bags at the age of 21, as he went in search of new circuits and rivals who would allow him to learn the techniques of his chosen discipline at the highest level and explore his potential in a short space of time. It proved to be a wise choice.

Javi grew up surrounded by motorcycles, as is often the case with top quality racers, and spent the majority of his childhood at the workshop of his father, who was a professional mechanic. It was a proud moment when, at just four years of age, Javi turned his attention to a small motorbike prepared by his father. “It was a real jigsaw, a complete prototype”, remembers Javier, who still has the bike at his house. He spent some of the best days of his childhood on his two-wheeled toy in Montigalá, an area of Badalona that, over time, has seen trees and fields gradually make way to become a major commercial centre.

As part of a working class family his early days were not easy, but perhaps that is what has helped propel him to the top. “If it wasn’t difficult, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been as much of a fighter as I am now and maybe I wouldn’t have come this far,” he admits. García Vico started out in regional competitions and showed signs of talent in the Catalunya Championship before making his name in the Spanish Championship, winning the title seven times.

His constant desire to improve saw him break new barriers and relocate to Italy, where he lived for three years before moving to Belgium and then Holland, where he still lives. Before that he spent a while working at his father’s workshop and a season in a Barcelona warehouse trying to cover his costs.

Now, at the age of 31, he is one of the biggest names in the sport and is at the peak of his career. His track record speaks for itself: Catalunya, Spanish and European Champion, Motocross of Nations winner, first Spanish rider ever to win a round of the World Championship (in Russia) and 650cc World Championship runner-up in 2003.

There are two key moments in his career which he remembers with particular fondness: victory in the 1998 Motocross of Nations, on a bike lent to him by a friend, and the 2003 season, when he won the Spanish Championship and finished second in the World Championship after making the podium at every single round.

This season García Vico hopes to complete his curriculum vitae with a title he has worked harder than anybody else to achieve. “I feel like this is my big chance, the is the best time of my life in terms of the experience I have, the team, such a great sponsor everything,” confirms Javi. In 2005, as part of the Telefónica MoviStar family and as an official Honda rider, García Vico will combine duties in the Spanish Championship, as team-mate to Jordi Viladoms, with those in the World Championship alongside Frenchman Mickaël Pichon at Team Martin.