Koldo just misses out... again

Koldo once again missed out on victory today when he came second in the Cicuito de Getxo. Koldo was, very surprisingly, beaten by some guy called Reinier Honig from the P3 Transfer-Batavus team. Though a 2nd place is a great acheivement, it must have been terribly disappointing for him. I don't really understand how a guy as fast as Koldo can be beaten by that rider, but that's cycling I guess, and it sucks so bad. Euskaltel must have racked up a scaringly high number of runner-up spots this year.... The rest of the team were very active and did their best to set up Koldo for the win. Alán formed part of the 7-man break today and looked to be in good shape; a good sign for Saturday's big race. Eventhough Alán was in the break, the team reeled the break back in. A flurry of attacks started, Alán once again among them, but it came down to a sprint between 12 riders, with a second group coming home 2 seconds back. How that sprint unfolded I'm not sure, but the result of it is quite strange. First of all, of course, this Honig guy took his first win of his career by beating one of the fastest men around. And JJ Rojas, a reknown sprinter, ended dead last in that 12-man sprint. And another fast guy, Manuel Vázquez, ended up in 7th behind a bunch of also-rans. Weird... The rest of the guys did okay. Markel and Aitor H came in with this small second group, while Alán and Javier came in with the next big group 1:45 adrift. Lander came home with the gruppetto in 91st place at 7:20. The rest of the guys, Dioni, Beñat, Antton and Andoni, all abandoned.

Aketza Peña cleared of doping

Yes, that's rigth; Aketza has been cleared of any wrondoing in relation to his positive test for nandrolone at last year's Giro di Trentino. The A-sample came back positive, and allegedly contained 5 times the allowed limit for the drug. He subsequently had to leave the Giro d'Italia he was contesting at the time, and immediately asked for the counter-analysis. In august that same year he was suspended for two years, eventhough the Spanish Cycling Federation wasn't made aware of the B-sample result until January. Aketza didn't say why CAS decided to clear him, he'll leave that to his lawyer. He's been training all this time, competing in mountain bikes events, to keep in shape. What the future now holds for Aketza is unclear, but I'm really glad to see him cleared of doping. Euskaltel were forced to fire him due to the Code of Ethics, but Miguel Madariaga told El Correo: "Inside the team we supported him. And now it's clear that he hasn't done anything wrong." This news is good for everyone I reckon; for Euskaltel, for himself and for us, his fans.

Tour riders line up for San Sebastián

Euskaltel will aim for the win in the Clásica San Sebastián on Saturday. The Pro Tour one-day race will see six of the Tour riders take part, namely Samu, Haimar, Mikel, Gorka, Egoi and Rubén, along with Alán and Iván. It's definetely a strong line-up, so I really expect the team to be in the thick of the action. This year's route, which features a short climb and decent right before the finish-line, suits Samu's characteristics to perfection, so he should be at the very front. I also think Gorka, who recovered from a crash in the Tour and returned to his old self towards the end of the race, will post a good result.

Several riders face the axe

According to Miguel Madariaga in today's El Correo, and some personal sources, 6 or 7 riders will have to leave the team by the end of the season. Due to the limited budget, which remains at 6 million euro, and the uncertainty over next year's calendar, it's a step the team is forced to take. Rumours are already circulating on who those 6 or 7 might be, but it's hard to tell. I'm afraid Lander, Andoni, Beñat, Jorge, Dioni and Antton are among those, though I, to be honest, have no idea whatsoever. These are just my thoughts... All 6 of them have struggled, for various reasons, to fulfill their obvious talent this year. I'd be really saddened to see some of them go, especially Antton, who's been going through hell lately due to personal reasons. It's also always been clear that he's got what it takes to make it on the big stage and, as he's my favourite Euskaltel rider, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him. There's still many races left for the riders to make an impression this year, though, so hopefully they'll grab the opportunities as they present themselves.

Koldo to lead Getxo charge

Koldo will lead the team in Thursdays Circuito de Getxo - Memorial Ricardo Otxoa one-day race. Aitor Galdos naturally had to drop out due to his crash in training, but Koldo will still see 9 riders line up alongside him under the guidance of Jon Odriozola. The team: Koldo, Antton, Alán, Beñat, Javier, Aitor H, Markel, Andoni, Dioni and Lander. It's not unlikely that the race will be decided in a sprint, so Koldo certainly is one of the biggest pre-race favourites.

Aitor Galdos crashes in training

Aitor Galdos sadly hit the ground head-first in training yesterday. The team which will contest Thursday's Circuito de Getxo, which Aitor himself of course is no longer a part of, was out training when the bad crash occured. The rider was immediately sent to the hospital in nearby Cruces, and spent the night there. He's back home now, already, and he's doing fine considering the circumstances. Aitor was luckily wearing a helmet at the time, something which, according to the team's website, might have saved his life. Man, cycling can be dangerous. I wish him a speedy recovery....

Nieve set to join team

24-year-old Mikel Nieve Iturlade of Orbea-Oreka SDA will join Euskaltel next year. The hotly-tipped transfer of the talented climber was today revealed in Basque daily El Correo. Mikel has impressed greatly this year, especially on the climbs, so I'm looking forward to seing him around next year. Though, he's not really that young any more, so I'm curious to see how good this guy will actually be. But if the past two year's results are anything to go by, we're in for a treat...

Madariaga pleased with Tour performance

Miguel Madariaga, head chief of the Fundacion Euskadi Ciclista, was suprisingly up-beat about the team's recent showing in France. He spoke at length to DEIA yesterday, saying: "It's a pain that we didn't succeed in winning a stage, but there's no way we can complain about it. The ruling's a good one, I can't see how it can't be. Every Tour is different from the last one, but we've reached the level we hoped we would. We've come 2nd on the two most important stages in the mountains, and Samu has ended up 7th overall. Perhaps some doesn't value Samu's performance, but if you look at the final GC, and the riders he's in front of, it's obvious that his overall placing is important for him as well as the team. And, I guess most people don't know this, but it's also the first time all 9 riders on the team have reached the finish-line. I'm personally proud of that. I'm also proud of our 4th place in the team rankings in the hardest race on earth. If you look at what team's are behind us in the standings, it's impressive. Of course we've reflected on the fact that we didn't win a stage, but we're only one out of 12(!) teams who haven't won one. If we look at those teams' potential, both economically and from a sporting perspective, and we compare it to our philosophy, I can't see how I can complain. I'm actually proud, really proud, of what we've done in this race. Of course it was extremely annoying when Egoi went so close, but we've analyzed the whole thing so that it won't happen again. But sometimes riders commit errors. They're only human beings after all. We told him as the stage progressed that it'd be wise to save something for later, and we also warned him of Gerrans, who's a good rider. We trusted each other. It's clear that the Australian told Egoi that he felt bad and that he wouldn't contest the sprint for the win, but you can't believe in those thing nowadays. Egoi was simply too honest."

Round-up

I've once again been forced to take a break from blogging. I'm really sorry, but I'll try to blog more consistently in the near future. The Tour came to a close today, and the team once again ended up without a win to show for their efforts. That was a shame, as they thouroughly deserved one, but life goes on. All in all an okay Tour. Samu's 7th place was very good, so too Mikel's aggressive riding, but Haimar sadly failed to deliver. A 4th in the team ranking is not to be sniffed at, but sadly a 4th place is a very long way from 1st. A solid, yet unspectacular, Tour de France 2008 for the team. Final GC:

• 7th, Samuel Sánchez, 6:25
• 16th, Mikel Astarloza, 23:40
• 45th, Haimar Zubeldia, 1:27:00
• 50th, Egoi Martínez, 1:37:00
• 52nd, Amets Txurruka, 1:41:59
• 73rd, Gorka Verdugo, 2:08:23
• 91st, Rubén Pérez, 2:33:55
• 103rd, Juan José Oroz, 2:56:12
• 104th, Iñaki Isasi, 2:57:44

Great to see every single rider finish the race, that's always pleasing. The team also took part in the GP Villafranca Ordizia on Saturday, but that wasn't a big success. Iñigo got a 12th place, which isn't bad, but I'm afraid to say the others ended up way back. Strength in numbers will always be a challenge for the team, and to me it looks like that's what's missing this year...

Ups and downs

Being a cycling fan is hard; you mostly get disappointed. I was shattered when Egoi missed out on what would, and should, have been a very deserved win here the other day. That's cycling, that's just so cruel. He was obviously the strongest, Gerrans gave him his word on not attacking him, Pate disgraced himself and his team by not pulling at all... It was so unfair, but there's nothing I can do about it, except trying to forget it... Samu's been brilliant this last week, and he must be left thinking what might have been had he started the race a bit stronger. He always seems to get stronger as the races unfold, no exception. But he's been magnificent, hats off to him! The neverending quest for a stage-win continues tomorrow in what is likely to be the team's last chance of winning a stage. I expect an "all-out" approach from the team; it's now or never.

The team's been competing in the Vuelta a Madrid as well where, disappointingly, the team didn't manage to clock up a win. Koldo came second on the last stage though, while Josu showed strength in the ITT, Iñigo looked good in 6th overall and Javier was "best young rider". Not a bad return, but a win would be nice.

The team will field Josu, Lander, Dioni, Jon, Iñigo, the Aitors, Igor, Javier and Iván in the Prueba Villafranca-Clásica de Ordizia tomorrow. My main hope for success is Iñigo due to his good showing in Madrid.

Time-out

I know I couldn't possibly have timed it any worse, but I'll likely not be able to update the blog for a few days. I'm going to Italy (no, not to see the Prato Nevoso stage) on vacation, but I'll be back by Thursday. There's supposed to be a wireless internett connection where we'll stay, but I can't guarantee it'll work. Maybe I'll update it, maybe not. I'll be doing it if I can though rest assured. If not, see you all on Thursday!

Juanjo gives it a go

Juanjo tried his luck today on the 12th stage. He joined the breakaway duo with something like 50 kilometres to go, but they were all reeled back in with less than 10 clicks to go. A good try though; he's finding his feet nicely at his first Tour. It came down to the anticipated mass-sprint, in which no Euskaltel rider got in the mix. Everyone but Amets and Gorka, who's still suffering and came in dead last, rolled in with the pack. Due to Ricco's exclusion, Mikel is now 9th while Samu is 11th overall. Juanjo spoke to the team's website after his breakaway attempt: "I'm finding my feet little by little. I knew it'd be hard to stay away today, the sprinters' teams were in control all day, but it was worth a shot. It was very windy and you never know what might happen. This is my first Tour, and what I did today gives me confidence. There are still stages left to be raced, and we'll continue to try".

Euskaltel go missing

Euskaltel sadly failed to include one of their riders in today's big break which, as predicted, made it all the way to the line. Iñaki, Juanjo and Rubén were, to their credit, aggressive to begin with, but missed out on the important break. Then it was just a case of staying out of danger, something they managed. All riders, except for Iñaki and Gorka, came in with the main pack, 14:51 down. The pair came in with the next group at more than 22 minutes. No major changes to the overall standings today. Gorka continues to struggle with injuries he sustained on Sunday, something he talked about afterwards: "It was really hard for me today. I didn't train yesterday (on the rest-day) so that the wounds would heal, but I'm still badly bruised. When I take a deep breath my ribs hurt. After yesterday's halt I knew it'd be hard today. It's annoying that this has happened to me as I was so motivated for this race. I'm enjoying a pretty good season, so it feels bad not to be able to show what I'm made of here. But, still, I'll carry on and help the team the best I can".

Euskaltel head for Madrid

Euskaltel will, for the first time I know of, ride the Vuelta a Madrid. The 2.1 three-stage race commences in two days, and will see Koldo, Iñigo, Javier, Jon, Aitor H, Iván, Alán and Josu do their utomost to secure a win or two for the team. The competition will not be the stiffest, so perhaps Koldo can add to his palmarès