Columnist Ron Kantowski: On two potential bicycling superstars who are hampered by the lack of money for their training

Saturday, Dec. 17, 2005 | 8:24 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

Many years ago I received a call from a press flak who wanted me to interview Greg LeMond, the three-time Tour de France champion.

I told him the last time I used the word "bicycle" it was to describe a deck of playing cards.

Sensing my lack of interest, he told me that I just had to do the interview because there is "only one Greg LeMond."

Of course, it wasn't long before Lance Armstrong came along and pedaled into the nation's consciousness by succeeding LeMond as Tour de France champion. Not once, not twice, but seven times.

So now there's only one Lance Armstrong.

I have a feeling that this time the designation will stick.

But in the long shot that there will be another Lance Armstrong, he could come from right here in Las Vegas.

Klement Capliar, a native of Czechoslovakia and a product of the Eastern European Olympic sports juggernaut that once dominated amateur sport, recently moved his International Youth Cycling Program team to Southern Nevada.

A renowned cycling expert who also coached the U.S. women's handball squad to a surprising fourth-place finish in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Capliar is providing pro bono instruction to 19-year-old youngsters Juan Carlos Hernandez of Guadalajara, Mexico, and Bonanza High School grad Greg Christian.

Both, Capliar said, have the skills to be champion.

Neither, Capliar said, has the financial backing to be champion.

At least not yet.

If you come across a middle-aged man who speaks distinctively, dresses in brightly colored skin-tight clothing and extolls the positive side of life, that would probably be Richard Simmons. But it also would describe Capliar on the day he showed up at the Sun without an appointment, looking for a way to offset the considerable expense of training a would-be cycling champion. Or two.

For about $100,000, he said, he could take Hernandez and Christian all over the world and have them on the podium of that Tour de France thing, as Bo Jackson used to call it, within three years.

Slightly embarrassed, I put my $20 bill back in my wallet.

Although Capliar is seeking a lucrative title sponsorship, such as the one the U.S. Postal Service bestowed upon Armstrong and his training pals/teammates, he added that every little bit will help Hernandez and Christian realize their potential. And his dreams.

"These guys have a chance," Capliar said, "and that's why I am reaching out, because I don't have the resources. I can't pay for trips, food, gas and rent."

Trips, food, gas, rent and myriad other expenditures associated with competing away from home on the international circuit are necessary when a Tour de France yellow jersey or an Olympic gold medal are the objective.

"I think he's pushing us to get to the Beijing Olympics," said Christian, who attracted Capliar's attention while pedaling in a race in Yuma, Ariz. "He's had a very big impact ... but it does take lots of money."

Christian's father is a personal trainer, and his mother works in a dental office.

"They have been supportive of everything I do," he said. "But that can only take you so far."

Hernandez and Christian are good enough to go all the way, Capliar said, but they won't get there by pedaling up and down Mount Charleston and around scenic Red Rock Canyon.

"It's a heartbreak to see talent like this ... and know how much more proper marketing could do," he said.

"We could go all the way with these kids. In two or three years, they could be better than Lance."

Christian's goal is a little more modest.

"I just want to see how fast I can pedal this thing," he said.

Ron Kantowski can be reached at 259-4088 or at ron@lasvegassun.com.