Tuesday round-up

• As per tradition, Tour-bound riders and staff were present at Euskaltel headquarters in Zamudio yesterday to talk to the media ahead of their July adventure. All the big names, De Galdeano, Madariaga, Ardanza et al., were present, and the former once again spoke of the team's objectives, aspirations and all that. The team will depart for France tomorrow and will take with them local chef Patxi Gimeno on tour to make sure the riders get the food they want and need throughout the three weeks. Let's just hope he leaves his meat at home.
• Naturgas youngster Jon Larrinaga is back in training after an injury-enforced seven-week layoff, www.fundacioneuskadi.com reports. Larrinaga crashed out on day three of the Vuelta a Bidasoa back in early May.
• Talking of Naturgas, pretty much the entire team gathered in Olazti yesterday for a training session, reports Euskaltel's website. The riders trained on the parcours of the upcoming Vuelta a Madrid and DS Arberas and his staff used the session to gauge the riders' form ahead of the big rendezvous. One rider most definitely in form is Igor Merino. The all-rounder, fresh off his debut GiroBio, took silver in Friday's sub-23 time trial championships. Most of the guys not selected for the Basque team for the national championships over the weekend took part in a race in Tolosa the same day but, despite placing three riders in the main break, ended up empty-handed.

Heading into the unknown

Gorka Izagirre will be making his much-anticipated debut in the Tour de France in less than a week, and he freely admits that he has no idea what's awaiting him. "I don't know anything about the Tour", he confided to the Diario Vasco. "I don't know the Pyrenees nor the Alps. I went to the Tourmalet with my parents and their group of friends when I was a kid, but that's all I've seen and all I know. The team took it's time in selecting me for the race, so I haven't had the opportunity to check out any of the stages. It'll be like a little adventure for me to see how I'll do, but I know it'll be hard. Since my return to competition after a mid-season break I've been feeling good, and I'm really looking forward to get to know the race." Izagirre had an outstanding showing in key lead-up race Tour de Suisse, being arguably the team's strongest rider at the prestigious WorldTour event. But despite that he'll be devoted to helping Samu rather than go looking for personal glory. "De Galdeano wants me to go all out in the team time trial and assist Samu and make sure he encounters no problems in the opening ten days", he told the newspaper, a task he'll share with Pablo Urtasun before the team's climbers will make their presence felt in the latter ten days of the three-week race. "I've got no problem with that." Despite having done quite a heavy load of racing so far this year, though he doesn't keep track of the number of days peculiarly, he insists he's recovered from a "very hard" Tour de Suisse and is ready to go. All nine members of the team will today make their way to France with the start of the biggest race on earth just a few days away.

Astarloza all set for comeback

Disgraced former Tour de France stage-winner Mikel Astarloza's two-year suspension came to an end yesterday and, according to Basque daily DEIA, he'll make his comeback with the team later this season. It was reported back in April that he would indeed make a return either this year or in time for the 2012 season, but with Euskaltel plagued by injuries it appears he'll get to wear the orange jersey pretty soon. No date for his comeback is set, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him lining up for home-town race Clásica San Sebastián in late July. Apparently he's been training "really hard", but obviously needs some time to get back into the race-form after such a long absence.

Bronze for Koldo

Koldo Fernández was 'best of the rest' in today's national champs road race and grabbed a magnificent bronze behind breakaway duo Rojas and Contador. The Euskaltel sprinter, by his own admission downbeat after missing out on a Tour berth earlier this week, won the sprint for third 28 seconds down on the winning duo to repeat last year's heroics. The team did their best to reel in Rojas and Contador after the duo went clear on the last ascent but there was no catching them, but the team will no doubt be happy with another medal to go with Castroviejo's on Friday. Verdugo and Martínez came home 11th and 13th and looked to be on track for next week's Grand Départ, while Gorka Izagirre also had a decent race to finish 17th at 33 seconds. Txurruka and Velasco ended up 1:28 down in 24th and 26th, A and R Pérez and Urtasun came in with a large group at 5:09, and Sesma, Bilbao and Aramendía crossed the line inside the gruppetto at 8:09.

Víctor Cabedo ensured Orbea a top 10 placing with his 9th place finish. The youngster has had an excellent first season in the blue jersey of Orbea and looks increasingly likely to make the jump up to Euskaltel in 2012. García finished up a decent 20th, Martín 35th, Etxebarria 49th and Bizkarra 62nd.

Road race line-up

Euskaltel will put 14 of their riders on the start-line in Castellón today for the national champs road race: Bilbao, Martínez, Verdugo, Txurruka, Velasco, Fernández, Sesma, R and A Pérez, Oroz, Urtasun, G Izagirre, Castroviejo and Aramendía. On what is a rather flat parcourse, Koldo Fernández is likely to be Euskaltel's main go-to man, but also look out for a late-race move from the likes of Txurruka and, above all, Gorka Izagirre.

Castroviejo grabs silver in TT champs

Jonathan Castroviejo showed what a massive talent he is by taking silver in the Spanish National Champs ITT yesterday. The Getxo native edged no less a rider than a certain Alberto Contador to take second spot on the podium, but there was nothing he could do to surpass a flying LL Sánchez who got around the 44,5km course a full minute faster than the Euskaltel youngster. Gorka Izagirre rode strongly to place seventh, whilst Orbea pair Cabedo and García ended up 11th and 14th respectively. Contrary to what was reported on this site on Friday, Daniel Sesma and Aritz Etxebarria did not take the start. The duo figured on the start list a couple of days ago, but for some reason they were not to be seen.

"I'm happy with silver", he confided to the team's website after the podium ceremony. "My form was an unknown going into the race after my Tour de Suisse was hampered by a knee injury, so I didn't really know how I'd do. Luis León did a great race and all I can do is to congratulate him. I felt strong and second place is nice. I finished ahead of Contador, who wins almost every time trial he participates in. Above all I'm happy to see I'm progressing in a modality I've always fancied my chances in".

Trio set for TT champs

Prodigious duo Jonathan Castroviejo and Gorka Izagirre, along with Daniel Sesma, will represent Euskaltel in today's Spanish National Championship Individual Time Trial. With two victories to his name in the discipline already this season, the former will be a hot candidate for a podium placing over the 44,5km course. The elder of the Izagirre brothers looked more than decent in the recently-conlcuded Tour de Suisse and should stand a chance of landing a top 10. Sesma, more known for his breakaway exploits than time trial prowess, is not likely to figure towards the top of the standings, but should be able to end up somewhere like, say, top 20. Sesma will be the fifth man off the start ramp at 17:34, whilst Izagirre will start at 17:41 and Castroviejo, fourth from last and two minutes ahead of favourite number one, Contador, will depart at 18:06. Orbea will be represented by Aritz Etxebarria, Víctor Cabedo and Ricardo García.

"We're climbers, not rouleurs"

Like just about everyone else, Egoi Martínez is painfully aware of the fact that Euskaltel will struggle in the team time trial in the Tour. In a bid to minimize their losses, the team spent almost three hours riding tempo together yesterday. The super-domestique hopes sessions like these might pay dividends come race day. "Unity and cohesion can save us", he told DEIA. "The other teams are more skilled in the discipline than we are. But it's not really a question of being familiar or not with the discipline. It's simple: we're not as strong against the clock individually as riders on other teams. We're a team of climbers". Personally I don't think the TTT will turn out too badly to be honest. It's only 23 kilometres long, and after all riders like Samu, Verdugo, Martínez himself and Gorka Izagirre know a thing or two about how to ride a good time trial. There's no need to worry I'd say. Mark my words: Euskaltel will end up 14th at 1:21. That wouldn't be too bad, would it?

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.

Samu predicts tough Tour

While Samu is no doubt aiming for a podium spot in the Tour this July just like he did last year, the Olympic champ is anticipating a harder fight for the top three places this time around. "It'll be more complicated this year than it was last year", he confided to DEIA. "We all want a repeat of 2010 when we fought for stages wins and the podium, but we know it'll be hard." The Asturian highlighted the team time trial on stage two as an obvious obstacle, saying "we probably won't go as fast as Leopard, Garmin, Saxo Bank or Rabobank", but went on to add diplomatically that "it's the same for everyone". He rates compatriot Contador as the number one favourite - naturally - but it nonetheless expecting "the most exciting Tour in years".

Nieve to stay

According to DEIA, Mikel Nieve has decided to stay with Euskaltel amid interest from Movistar and has even prolonged his contract with the team. It was reported early last week that Movistar were offering the climbing sensation a lucrative three-year deal - similar to the deal Jonathan Castroviejo is likely to accept in the near future - but the Leitza native has shown his commitment to the cause by extending his current contract 'till the end of the 2013 season.

Tour squad revealed

Euskaltel have revealed the names of the nine riders that will make up the team at the Tour de France. Joining Samu, Txurruka, Verdugo, Martínez and R Pérez (who were all certain of a spot a long time ago) will be Iván Velasco, A Pérez, Pablo Urtasun and Gorka Izagirre. The latter two will make their Tour bow this year. Glad to see Gorka given the chance; he'll be one to look out for make no mistake. Urtasun also adds a lot to the team and is worthy of his place, while it was almost a given that solid climber Velasco and all-rounder A Pérez were going to get selected. All in all a decent, well-rounded team. Samu will have plenty of support in the mountains in the shape of Verdugo, Martínez, Velasco and Txurruka, while Izagirre, Urtasun and A and R Pérez are all good bets for stage glory. Leave your thoughts on the team in the 'Comments' section.

Suisse stage 9

Gorka Izagirre and Jorge Azanza hung onto their 18th and 23rd places on GC respectively in today's concluding stage, a 32,1km ITT. The former had an okay ride, clocking in at 2:56 down on Cancellarar in 53rd place, while the latter was further off the pace in 93rd at 4:21. Castroviejo, seemingly on the way back after his knee troubles earlier in the race, suffered the misfortune of puncturing underway, totally disrupting his rhythm of course. The Movistar-bound youngster slotted in 3:54 down in 77th place. Rubén Pérez was six seconds faster in 75th, Fernández was 98th at 4:36, and Aramendía ended up 125th at 5:32. This made for the following final GC:

• 18, Gorka Izagirre
• 23, Jorge Azanza
• 54, Alan Pérez
• 68, Rubén Pérez
• 80, Javier Aramendía
• 112, Koldo Fernández
• 125, Jonathan Castroviejo

In the team rankings Euskaltel finished up ninth.

Suisse stage 8

Koldo Fernández confirmed he's approaching top form with a strong fourth on today's eighth stage of the Tour de Suisse. A select group of no more than 28 riders made it to the finish together on the comparatively flat but still quite taxing and hilly (towards the end at least) leg of the nine-day race, and in it was Koldo Fernández. In the sprint for the line Koldo was slightly boxed in on the left just when he was about to pull the trigger, but still recovered to finish fourth ahead of such illustrious names as Hushovd, Ciolek and Rojas to name a few. R Pérez came in just 54 seconds back, while Azanza advanced to 23rd on GC through his 69th place finish at 1:39. Izagirre stayed in 18th despite ceding 1:56. Castroviejo, Aramendía and A Pérez rolled home with the gruppetto at 7:27.