Euskaltel round-up

Finally back home after a week in the Italian countryside without an internet connection. A lot has happened since last Tuesday, so here's a short recap:

• The hillier, revamped Clásica San Sebastián was held on Saturday. As ever a great spectacle for us Euskaltel fans, and Samu showed he's still got top form after the Tour. Samu was in the thick of the action on the last climbs and forced the pace several times, but ultimately failed to follow LL Sánchez when he darted away right at the top of the Jaizkíbel. Samu, who's still riding with a cracked radius bone in his arm, eventually grabbed a good ninth place on the day. A mention also goes out to Gorka Verdugo who, accompanied by JI Gutierrez and local hero Garate, bridged up to the break of the day on the first ascent of the Jaizkíbel and soon dropped them. The trio kept plugging away but were never given much leeway by a hard-chasing peloton and were caught halfway up the mythical climb the second and last time.


• The Subida a Urkiola, one of my favourite races on the calendar, was supposed to be held the following day but was put off this year due to a lack of funding.


• The Clásica de Getxo, the sprinter-friendly one-day race in and around the town of the same name, was held on Sunday. Euskaltel put all theif faith in Koldo and took complete control over the pack to keep it all together for the sprint, but Koldo never really got going and had to settle for a disappointing ninth place in a field rather bereft of top sprinters. The team did well though, lining it up perfectly at the end, so it wasn't all bad.


• Samu took third place in one of those lucrative post-Tour criteriums in Lacq two days ago. Romain Sicard also lined up but didn't figure at the sharp end of the peloton.


• Roster for the Vuelta a Burgos, starting today: Samu, Igor, Koldo, Romain, JJ, Mikel, Pablo Urtasun and Aitor H. Strong team, look for Igor to make his mark as his form should be on the rise as the Vuelta a España is just around the corner.


• Vacansoleil have purportedly offered Samu a bumper contract in the hope of luring him away from the team. Samu is, like a lot of Euskaltels stars, without a contract for next season, and Vancasoleil hope the signing of a rider of that calibre will guarantee them a place in next year's GTs. Samu has himself expressed his desire to remain with Galdeano's outfit, but an unusual clause in his contract may force Euskaltel to sell. Allegedly, Samu has it written in his contract that if an offer comes in for him, the team is obliged to match that offer to keep hold of him. Say, if a team offers him 100 000 euros more than what the team is currently paying him, Euskaltel need to caugh up and raise his salary by the same amount. Weird if you ask me... Anyway, given that the team likely faces a severe cut in it's budget for next year, those extra euros might be hard to come up with.
  
• The Tour of Poland is well underway and the team has so far put it's mark on the race. Aitor Galdós sprinted to an excellent second place on the first stage and to consecutive 12th places on the following two to sit fifth on GC halfway through the race. So far it's been all sprinters galore, but the more hillier stages to come should suit him even more. Perennial escapist Daniel Sesma made it into the break of the day on the second stage, but sadly they were reeled in with 20km to go or something.
  
• The team named five certain starters and six maybes for the upcoming Vuelta a España. Igor Antón and Beñat Intxausti will be the designated leaders; both of them going for stage-wins and a high GC placing. As expected Mikel Nieve, Egoi Martínez and Gorka Verdugo are all assured of a ride. Koldo, Javier Aramendía, Alán Pérez, Pablo Urtasun, Amets and JJ will fight it out for the remaining four spots. If they recover sufficiently from their injuries sustained in the Tour, my bet is on Amets and JJ to take two of those. I'd like to see Koldo line up, and I think he will, and he'd probably be joined by either Javier or Pablo.