Galdeano - We're not up to standard

Team time trials have been a source of frustration for Euskaltel fans ever since the team's inception in 1994, and today's collective race against the clock in Tirreno-Adriatico was another case in point.

The riders in orange finished dead last over the 16,9km TTT and are once again on the back foot already after day one of a stage race.

General manager Igor González de Galdeano admits his team is having trouble with the discipline and believes a number of factors are contributing.

"We're having problems adapting to the demands of the discipline, a discipline that, for natural reasons, isn't best suited to us", he said. "Still, though, we're performing below our actual level.

"It requires us to work on it, improve and be innovative in order to keep up with other WorldTour teams.

"We have first class material thanks to Orbea, but we're still not getting better at a discipline that damages the ambitions of our leaders in big races. We have a four-year project in place now and we've got to find a solution to this. We've shown we can be up there in big races, take last year's Vuelta for example, but when we're in a phase of preparation we're not up to our usual standard".

Galdeano came up with a number of reasons for his charges' weak ride in Tirreno - saying "it was the first TTT of the year, Vrecer is recovering from a collarbone fracture, it's only Samuel Sánchez's third day of racing this year, Ioannis Tamouridis didn't have his best day" - but claims certain physical depositions are handicapping his riders in the cronos.

"On average, our riders don't weigh more than 65 kilos. They're climbers, fighters, aggressive and brave, but when a team time trial is coming up it's like the riders start to doubt themselves and get all insecure", he intimated. "All this leads to "discrete" performances. We're over-dependant on certain riders and, if they're not on their game or are having health issues, we're out of the running".

To turn the situation around, Galdeano is not only calling on the riders to up their game.

"In order to improve, the staff, not only the riders, have work to do to change what's increasingly looked upon as something normal. It's a challenge we have to take on. This team can do better".

Photo: Vavel