Vrecer set for Grand Tour bow

New Euskaltel rider Robert Vrecer is set to get his Grand Tour debut this spring at the ripe old age of 32.

The Slovenian joined the team in the off-season from the Continental-level Team Vorarlberg to help secure Igor González de Galdeano's outfit the WorldTour licence it craved, and will get to experience one of the very hardest races there is already in his first season. According to the team's own website, Vrecer is set to line up at the Giro d'Italia in May.

Speaking from the team's training camp in Villajoyosa, the team's General Manager said the team's been divided into three groups for the training rides, with each group focussing on roughly the same races.

"The first group consists of riders who have to get into shape early on, and they are therefore doing more intense riding. (Igor) Antón, (Mikel) Nieve, (Gorka) Verdugo and (Romain) Sicard are some of these riders", he said. "In the second group you've got riders who are in with a real shot of doing the Giro, and who therefore need to go a little bit easier in training. Samuel Sánchez, Egoi Martínz, Jorge Azanza, Miguel Minguez and Robert Vrecer are shoo-ins for the Corsa Rosa. And then, finally, you've got the group of the sprinters, who are doing specific training. (André) Schulze, (Steffen) Radochla, (Alexandre) Serebryakov and (Adrián) Sáez de Arregi are in this group, joined occasionally by (Pablo) Urtasun, Rubén Pérez and (Jure) Kocjan".

Vrecer, who specializes against the clock and took six triumphs in all last year, will thus get a tough introduction to top-level racing - but, having ridden all career on Continental teams, he's likely relishing it.

As for the rest of the training camp, Galdeano hopes to "finalize the racing schedules for the riders", adding that "camps like these are important both to be able to train at intensity in a milder climate than further north, and to become a tight-knit group. Directors, mechanics, masseurs, soigneurs, riders... We're all a big family, and this week represents an ideal opportunity to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and to establish a good team atmosphere for the upcoming season".

The team will stay on the Costa Blanca through this week, returning home on Sunday the 20th. 

Photo: Euskaltel Euskadi