Briefs

• With several riders in solid shape at the moment, Orbea will hope to leave their mark on the Spanish National Championships in Castellón this weekend. Star duo Víctor Cabedo and Ricardo García will do the time trial, while Martín, Etxebarria, Aberasturi, Bizkarra, Bagües, Sáez, Zabalo, Urain and Blázquez will join them in the road race. The level of competition is likely to be quite high, so a top 10 placing in either discipline would constitute a good result for the Continental team. Look for Cabedo to shine in Sunday's road race.
• Euskaltel's chosen nine for the Tour de France spent three hours earlier today practicing for the Tour's stage two team time trial. Given their recent exploits in the discipline, or rather lack thereof, those three hours are likely to come in handy as Samu looks to not cede too much time to GC rivals Contador, Schleck, Evans, Basso and co.
• Miguel Madariaga has once again been honoured for his work for Basque cycling, writes www.fundacioneuskadi.com. A few days ago, the current president of the Fundación Euskadi received an award from the city of Orduna, an award titled the Perretxiko de Plata, for his work in "promoting and developing Basque cycling". Upon receiving the prize, Madariaga expressed his "extreme gratefulness". Joining him at the act was Euskaltel riders Antón, Isasi and Mínguez, team head De Galdeano, DS Gerrikagoitia, Orbea DS Díaz, and Naturgas Energía chief Aritz Arberas.
• Naturgas will send nine riders to Friday's Torneo Lehendakari-race in Tolosa. Representing the red brigade will be Aitor Ocampos, Alain González, Urtzi Legarra, Karl Baudron, Rory Martínez, Damien García, Alberto Guinea, Eduardo Ardaiz and Álex Bilbao. Igor Merino will meanwhile represent a Basque team at the Spanish under-23 nationals in both the time trial and the road race, reports www.biciciclismo.com.
• Speaking of the red team, the Naturgas youngsters achieved some top results last weekend. Efrén Carazo was third, Grijalba fifth and González sixth in Sunday's race in Burgos. Saturday's race in Trucíos did not go similarly well with none of the riders placing inside the top 10.