Euskaltel stars give nationals a miss
There'll be no Samuel Sánchez, no Igor Antón, and no Mikel Nieve in this weekend's Spanish national championships.
The trio have all opted out of the race, but for different reasons: Samu will continue his Tour preparations in the thin air of Sierra Nevada, Antón will be looking to recover from the Tour de Suisse and continue his training towards a return to competition at the Tour of Poland, whilst Nieve just finishes his first part of the season in Switzerland. Though the three won't be present, Euskaltel are still in with a shot at a medal on the taxing circuit in Salamanca.
There'll be 13 orange-clad riders on the start line for the road race on Sunday, including the entire Tour team (bar Samu of course). These are: Egoi Martínez, Jorge Azanza, Mikel Astarloza, Rubén Pérez, Gorka Izagirre, Gorka Verdugo, Amets Txurruka, Pablo Urtasun, Miguel Minguez, Alan Pérez, Juan José Oroz, Jon Izagirre and Adrián Sáez. The latter will also double up in Friday's 43,2km individual time trial.
Considering the parcours is said to be quite demanding, the Tour-bound riders and guys like Jon Izagirre should be in contention. Make no mistake though, unseating the might Movistar (albeit without Valverde) will be tough.
Photo: www.fundacioneuskadi.com
4 comments:
Would be nice if Jon Izaguirre were to win it, he's had a nice season so far.
Basques winning the nationals? Would it be popular riding with the spanish shirt?
That's a good question, but I think they would be proud to do so. I might be wrong, but I can't remember Garate experiencing any trouble riding with it back in 2005 - and neither with A Galdeano in 2000. Obviously none of them rode for Euskaltel then, but still.
That's a good question, but I think they would be proud to do so. I might be wrong, but I can't remember Garate experiencing any trouble riding with it back in 2005 - and neither with A Galdeano in 2000. Obviously none of them rode for Euskaltel then, but still.
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