Cervantes began his professional career in 1998 as a motocross rider. He accumulated five Spanish national motocross championships before turning his attention to enduro. He made his World Enduro Championship debut in 2002 in the 500 cc class with KTM, finishing 12th. In 2003 he was runner-up in the same class with two race wins. The following year, 2004, he finished third in the E3 category with three victories.
In 2005, at the age of 23, Cervantes made motorcycle racing history by becoming the first Spanish rider to win the Enduro World Championship, claiming the E1 title — contested by machines from 100 to 125 cc two-stroke or 175 to 250 cc four-stroke. He scored 14 race wins that season. He successfully defended the E1 crown in 2006 with nine victories.
Moving up in class, Cervantes won the E3 category championship in 2007, demonstrating versatility across engine classes. The E3 class is for machines from 290 to 500 cc two-stroke or 475 to 650 cc four-stroke. He recorded 11 wins during that title campaign. In 2008, continuing with KTM in the E1 class, he scored five race victories but finished as runner-up to Honda's Mika Ahola.
In 2009 Cervantes returned to the E3 class and won his fourth and final Enduro World Championship, taking ten victories. He then contested the E2 class in 2010 and 2011, finishing second in 2010 and third in 2011 after switching from KTM to GasGas. He continued to compete at the top level through 2014, finishing third in the E2 World Championship in 2013 and second in the E3 category in 2014, also claiming the Spanish Enduro E3 title that year.
Cervantes also excelled in the indoor variant of the sport. He won the 2008/09 FIM Indoor Enduro World Cup with five race victories. In the 2009/10 season he was runner-up with one win and six second-place finishes. He returned for the 2011/12 Indoor Enduro Cup, finishing fifth with two podiums.
In July 2021, Cervantes announced a partnership with Triumph Motorcycles as a global brand ambassador alongside American motocross legend Ricky Carmichael, representing Triumph's new off-road motorcycle line. In competition on Triumph adventure machinery, Cervantes claimed wins at the Baja Aragón, the 1000 Dunas Raid, and the Basella Maxi-Trail Race.
On 30 April 2023, Cervantes set a new Guinness World Record for the greatest distance covered on a motorcycle by an individual in 24 hours. Riding a production-specification Triumph Tiger 1200 GT Explorer on the High-Speed Ring at the Nardò Technical Center in Italy, he covered 4,012.53 km (2,493.28 miles) in 24 hours at an average speed of 167.79 km/h (104.26 mph), completing 317 laps of the 12.649 km circuit. The run surpassed the previous record of 3,406.17 km set by American Carl Reese in 2017 by more than 600 km. A GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS adjudicator validated the attempt; the motorcycle required only a single tyre change throughout the 24-hour period.
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