Samu relishing Beijing reunion

Samu Sánchez will next week return to the place of his career-defining win in the Olympic road race. The five-day Tour of Beijing commences this coming Wednesday, and the Euskaltel captain is looking forward to the challenge, he told www.fundacioneuskadi.com.

"Being able to go back to where I was crowned Olympic champion means the world to me. It was a very hard race with a testing parcours that ended beautifully. The fight for the medals was intense, and my triumph signalled a 'before' and 'after' in my career. Taking olympic gold is the ultimate achievement in any sport. Needless to say, I'm especially motivated for this race. I'll try to give it my all in this new race on the cycling calendar. Cycling is continuously globalizing: we're doing races in Australia and Canada already, and now China. It's great for the sport that new races are being born all over the world, and these races really enrich the calendar. For me and my team, going to China is very exciting and we'll aim to put on a show for the spectators."

Samu will spearhead a strong team consisting of Nieve, Antón, Astarloza, Landa, J Izagirre, Txurruka and A Pérez. Alvaro González de Galdeano will call the shots from the team car.