Gorka 17th in Romandie ITT

Gorka Verdugo showed he's riding himself back into form by placing a strong 17th in today's 24,3-kilometre individual time trial in teh Tour de Romandie. Finishing ahead of riders like Pinotti, Casar, Kreuziger, Plaza, Grabsch and Sagan in such a taxing stage is impressive to say the least. Igor did quite well to come home 37th, 1:41 down on surprise-winner Porte, while JJ was 48th at 1:54. Alan was 64th at 2:20, Iñaki 88th at 2:57, Koldo 109th at 3:33, Mikel 113th at 3:42 and Aitor Galdós 150th at 5:43. With a few hilly stages coming up, the overall looks like this:

• 36th, Igor Antón, 1:26
• 38th, Juan José Oroz, 1:30
• 63rd, Gorka Verdugo, 2:30
• 70th, Iñaki Isasi, 2:45
• 90th, Alan Pérez, 3:39
• 91st, Mikel Nieve, 3:39
• 106th, Koldo Fernández, 12:47
• 149th, Aitor Galdós, 30:37

Koldo back in form in Romandie

Koldo showed he's finding his way back into form following his enforced lay-off due to his ear problems. In today's second stage of the Tour de Romandie he sprinted to a good sixth place after some phenomenal team-work set him up perfectly on Peter Sagan's wheel with 400 metres to go. Koldo couldn't quite get into top gear after being exposed to the wind too early, but still did well to claim sixth ahead of riders like Wyss, Swift, Roche, Weylandt and Ciolek. As mentioned, the guys did really well to get Koldo into position for the sprint. With three kilometres left he seemed to be too far back (as usual!), but the guys displayed some nice bike-handling skills and raw power to bring him into the perfect position. Great job by the team. A thumps-up for Alan Pérez as well, who continued where he let off in LBL recently by spending another long day in the break of the day. Together with Ignatiev, Beyer and Van Winden he built up a handy lead, but it wasn't meant to be as the teams in the pack were all keen on a sprint finish. Alan showed he was strong though by, together with Ignatiev, dropping Van Winden and Beyer when it got reel steep towards the end. Good ride. Alan and Gorka Verdugo eventually ended up 1:32 down after doing more than could be expected for Koldo, while Aitor G came in together with a big group 10:53 in arrears.

Beñat 5th overall in Asturias

Beñat showed his form is still there after getting through a hilly day in the Vuelta a Asturias today and lying in fifth place overall. A select group of 20 riders came to the line together. Vicioso naturally won the stage with Beñat taking 7th and thus fifth place on GC. Not bad. The other Euskaltel riders spent their energy working for their captain and as a result ended up way back. Romain did well to come home just 39 seconds back in 34th place, while Jorge was 2:16 down in 70th place, Javier was 91st at 8:47, Pablo 96th at 11:41, Jonathan 97th at 12:02, Gorka 98th 12:04 down and Miguel dead last in 100th place 12:04 down as well. Aketza Peña (remember him?) is really riding himself back into form and today took a good 18th place and is now 9th overall. As for Orbea, Jon Izagirre was once again impressive with his 23rd place 38 seconds down, while Mikel Landa was also good, taking 26th just one second further back. Ricardo García was 2:16 down, while Xabier Zabalo was 5:16 down and Andoni Blázquez 7:34 down. Mikel Ilundain and Adrián Sáez de Arregi were both 8:47 back, while Aritz Etxebarria was 11:41 down just ahead of a quartet of Euskaltel riders. Gorka lost his Intermediate Sprints jersey and is now second, while Mikel Landa is now third in the mountains ranking.

Pablo sprints to win in Asturias

Pablo Urtasun sprinted to Euskaltel's fourth win in April by taking out the first stage of the Vuelta a Asturias ahead of an on-fire Vicioso and Joaquin Sobrino. It was the perfect result for Pablo to cap of several weeks of impressive, yet winless, performances. The stage unfolded as anticipated with a two-man break getting some minutes leeway. The precocious Mikel Landa of Orbea was one of them, but together with Corti they were reeled in with 8 kilometres to go after hard work by Euskaltel. From there on in there was ever only one team at the head of the pack. Pablo's seven team-mates did a fantastic job to give him the perfect lead-out, and the powerful 30-year-old came around Vicioso on the right-hand side close to the barriers to take an important win. Pablo was a grateful man after the win. "The team has been awesome. From Intxausti to Aramendía, who was my last man, they all did amazing work. Romain Sicard, Jorge Azanza, Miguel Minguez, Gorka Izagirre and Jonathan Castroviejo all kept their calm to keep the pace high inside the last 5 kilometres. The team trusted me and it's a great joy to pay the back with this win. After crossing the line we were all happy and it was very emotional".

Beñat, Jonathan and Javier came in with the leading peloton, while Romain, Jorge and Gorka came in six seconds back and Miguel 1:45. Gorka grabbed the first and only intermediate sprint points on offer ahead of Pablo and those two naturally occupy the first two places in that competition. Awesome. Mikel Landa is leading the mountains ranking after grabbing maximum points on offer, so that's great as well. All of Orbea's riders, including Mikel, came in six seconds down, but no one could possibly be bothered by that on such a good day.

Status quo in Romandie

Euskaltel enjoyed an anonymous day in the first stage proper of the Tour de Romandie. None of teh guys made it into the break, but Iñaki entered the fight for the stage-win and came out with a fine 13th place on the day. Everyone but sprinters Koldo and Aitor G came in with the main pack, a feat which is quite impressive given the hilly parcours. Koldo came in 9:28 back, while Aitor ended up 14:13 in arrears. The GC remained largely unchanged with JJ still holding onto his 12th place overall.

Barbero takes last stage

Carlos Barbero capped off some fantastic riding by the team to take the third and last stage of the Tres Días de Álava, running in and around the Basque capital of Álava. A dangerous eight-man break got up the road with only Bizkarra from the right team in it, so the rest of the guys in red set about driving the pace at the head of the pack to reel them in. They eventually succeeded, and Barbero used his explosive end-speed to awesome effect to take yet another big win for the team. Igor Merino also showed he's got what it takes to mix it up in the sprints with a fine 5th place. Bizkarra won the mountain jersey, while Jon Larriñaga won the best Álavan rider category. Barbero was naturally a happy young man after the race and expressed his delight at his team-mates' work, saying: "My team-mates were brilliant and I have only got words of gratitude for them. They did fantastically well. The win was a great way to close out the race for us".

Euskaltel come up short in Naranco

The Subida al Naranco did not go to plan for the team today. A massive break containing 26 riders got away early on with only two Euskaltel riders in it: Gorka Izagirre and Jorge Azanza. Due to the numerical disadvantage in the break, the rest of the guys back in the pack set about driving the pace in the hope of reeling the break back in. They did not succeed though, and even though Beñat clocked a fantastic time up the climb, he started too far back to get anywhere close to the remnants of the break. Eventually he finished a distant 21st, a full 2:59 down. The only other Euskaltel guy to finish was Jorge, coming in 28th. The rest of the guys abandoned, much like Orbea who only had one finisher. Izagirre Jr., Jon, came in a good 19th.

Ocampos 3rd in Álava

Naturgas continued their strong form with another podium place this weekend, this time through Aitor Ocampos in the second stage of the Tres Días de Álava. The youngster got into the decisive break late on, but couldn't quite match Caja Rural's Jordi Simon on the steep climb up to the line in Ozaeta. He came in two seconds back, while another Naturgas rider was to be found in 9th place; Pello Bilbao. In the process, Aitor Ocampos won the Metas Volantes prize, while another Naturgas rider, this time Jon Larriñaga, scooped the Best Álavan rider-prize.

JJ impressive in Romandie prologue

JJ grabbed an impressive 12th place in today's prologue in the Tour de Romandie. The prologue was held over a mainly flat 4,3-kilometre long circuit in Porrentruy, and JJ showed his form is still at a remarkable level, coming in just 8 seconds adrift of winner Pinotti and ahead of riders like Valverde, Larsson, Menchov, Cavendish, Rabon and Karpets to name a few. The other guys were as predicted way off the pace. Gorka was 13 seconds back in 45th place, Igor and Koldo were both 18 seconds down, Iñaki 20 down, Aitor G 21, Alan 22 and Mikel 29. An okay start for the team as a whole to the race, but an excellent one for JJ.

Orbea reveal roster for Naranco and Asturias

Orbea will naturally take part in the Subida al Naranco on Tuesday and the five-day Vuelta a Asturias starting on Wednesday. Like Euskaltel, they'll send the same eight riders to both events: Jon Aberasturi, Mikel Landa, Mikel Ilundain, Aritz Etxebarria, Adrián Sáez de Arregi, Andoni Blázquez, Xabier Zabalo and Jon Izagirre. Strong team, but they'll find it difficult to repeat Sicard's win last year.

Romandie, Naranco and Asturias teams

Euskaltel have released their line-ups for the upcoming three races: Tour de Romandie, Subida al Naranco and the Vuelta a Asturias. For the latter two, the team will field the same eight riders: Beñat, Romain, Jorge, Jonathan, Gorka, Miguel, Javier and Pablo. The hilly one-day classic Subida al Naranco will be staged tomorrow, while Asturias will be held from Wednesday 'til Sunday. As for the Tour de Romandie, Igor will lead the team in hope of capitalising on his brilliant form. The time trials will make a good GC placing complicated, so he'll no doubt aim for stage-wins. So too will Koldo, on the flatter stages natually, while JJ, Mikel, Aitor Galdós, Gorka Verdugo, Alan and Iñaki round out a strong-looking roster.

Igor brilliant in LBL

Igor showed in today's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, just like in Wednesday's Fléche Wallonne, that he's among the very best on uphill terrain at the moment. Finishing 4th and 7th in your very first participation in Fléche and Liège is sublime. That's something really special. This might sound very biased, but I'm of the opinion that Igor was the strongest rider on Wednesday. If he'd been a bit better tactically and not jumped into that late-race break I'm positive he would have won the whole thing. Being caught in a breakaway group at the foot of the Huy and going on to lead the very best riders up big parts of the climb and then finish fourth is extraordinary. And finishing 7th ahead of guys like Horner, Fränk Schleck, Contador, Gerrans, Wegmann, Hesjedal, Cunego, Leon Sánchez, Purito and Garzelli, to name but a few, in your first Doyenne is marvellous. Now I'm looking forward to Tuesday. That's the start-date for the Tour de Romandie, a race Igor will take part in and hopefully rock. He'll be unbeatable up those big mountains the Tour de Romandie normally throws up. Also a big thumps-up for the rest of the team. Alan was superb in the break of the day, driving the pace and looking very strong. He looked phenomenal. So too did the ever-dependable JJ, Egoi and Iñaki who took care of their captain in every possible way and went on to finish the race in 40th, 41st and 71st respectively. Mikel, riding his first LBL, did the most important thing in your first participation, namely finishing it. Though he came in a distant 108th, the experience will hold him in good stead for the future.

Romain 9th in Rioja

Euskaltel put on a decent show in today's Vuelta a la Rioja. The one-time stage-race was, just like yesterday's GP Llodio, won by Angel Vicioso. Euskaltel put four men, Jorge, Miguel, Jonathan and Beñat, in the day's break. Getting four riders in a break is no mean feat, but unfortunately Xacobeo-Galicia reeled them all back in. As mentioned in the headline, Romain went on to claim a good 9th place, leading home a 8-man strong group 1:36 down. Good showing from him, who also went on to win the under-23 category in the race. Javier placed 39th and Gorka Izagirre 58th, while the rest of the riders abandoned. After the race, Igor González de Galdeano expressed his contentment. "The evaluation of this race is positive. We worked well during the race. We were active from the start and put four men in the break of the day, being the best-represented team up front. Minguez, Castroviejo, Azanza and Intxausti gave us presence in the break. Xacobeo-Galicia did very well to neutralize the group. Sicard was very good in the final part of the race. We're talking about very young riders here and they're all showing quality. It's good to see and it gives us satisfaction that young riders like Minguez, Izagirre, Castroviejo, Sicard and Intxausti are all performing at a high level. For that reason out participation has been a success."

Orbea didn't really step up today, Beñat Urain being their best rider in 41st place more than 8 minutes back. Mikel Ilundain was 67th, Jon Aberasturi 68th, Andoni Blázquez 78th and Noel Martín 80th. Not the best of days, but for a young team like Orbea it's not always the results that matter.

Llodio fiasco

Euskaltel had an off-day in yesterday's one-day race Gran Premio Llodio. Disappointing and at the same time surprising given the strength of the team. Best placed rider turned out to be Beñat who was a lowly 26th, coming in with a group 50 seconds down on winner Vicioso. Koldo did quite well to come home 37th in his first race back, 1:49 down, while Jorge, Romain and the Gorkas all came in among the last eight riders, all more than 9 minutes adrift. Not good. It wasn't all doom and gloom though. Gorka deserves praise for his breakaway effort during most of the race, while Koldo looked quite good as well.

As for Orbea, Mikel Landa, who wasn't originally slated for the race in the first place, proved to be their best man once again, coming in 29th, 56 seconds back. In 28th was former Euskaltel-rider Aketza Peña who's this year racing for Caja Rural. Jon Izagirre was an okay 34th, 1:06 down, while Beñat Urain came across the line in 44th place, 2:11 down. The rest of the guys all abandoned.