Briefs

• The nine Giro-bound riders plus staff will make the trip to Italy tomorrow ahead of this weekend's start of the first GT of the year. If all goes to plan the travelling party will touch down in Milan tomorrow afternoon before making the trip to Turin by bus. As a reminder, the nine riders are Antón, Aramendía, Azanza, Cazaux, Isasi, Minguez, Nieve, Oroz and Sesma.


• Despite taking a sensational stage win in the recently concluded Vuelta a Asturias courtesy of Víctor Cabedo, there are still things to work on for the team says DS Álex Díaz. "We committed some errors along the way, but we'll learn from them", he told the team's website. "But most importantly we'll take with us the excellent job executed by the team, Víctor Cabedo's stage four win and the feelgood factor we'll leave this race with. We realised that we can stay with the best, and that will motivate us to keep fighting".


• Naturgas will take on the prestigious Vuelta a Bidasoa this week. The four-stage race will commence this Thursday and is without a doubt one of the team's most important goals this year. Arberas will send a strong seven-man team to the race headlined by Igor Merino and Fernando Grijalba. The latter is fresh off a sublime win in the Three Days of Álava, while the former is touted as one of the favourites for the overall win due to his capabilities on pretty much every terrain. Joining them will be Loic Chetôut, Jon Larrinaga, Eduardo Ardaiz, Alberto Guinea and Efrén Carazo. On Sunday, another seven-man team will take on the Memorial Iguanzo: Barbero, Baudron, Bilbao, González, Legarra, Martínez and Ocampos.