Vuelta team set

Euskaltel today released the list of nine riders that will take on the Vuelta a España later this month. Antón, Nieve, Oroz, Martínez, Isasi and Verdugo were certainties from the start, and the six will be joined by Txurruka, Azanza and Cazaux. Iván Velasco is thus the one to miss out from the ten-man pre-selection revealed last week. Why that is I don't know, but I can only assume it's because he hasn't regained top form after his crash in the Tour. All in all it looks like a solid team to me, and from the riders de Galdeano has chosen it seems obvious he thinks the overall win for Antón is a realistic aim. No sprinters, no youngsters. It's all for Antón.

The Vuelta will start off with a 13,5km TTT. Ouch. To avoid starting off on the back foot the team will do some intense training on their aero bikes this coming Thursday, www.biciciclismo.com revealed today. I don't think it's going to be too bad though. They came in second in a Vuelta TTT a few years back and the presence of Martínez and Verdugo is a plus. Anything less than a minute down on the winning team constitutes a good start I'd say.