Two days of intense cycling in Ávila to resume the competitive pulse
XLV Vuelta Ciclista a Ávila
After a few days without competitive activity, the Polartec-Kometa U23 squad is back on track to face an always demanding race like the Vuelta Ciclista a Ávila. The round in Avila, in which the Spaniard Miguel Ángel Ballesteros (now a member of the continental Polartec-Kometa) finished second last year, will be held this weekend on two stages of marked mountainous profile. Such is the traditional cycling identity of the province of Castilla-León. Sergio García, Carlos García, Sergio Hernández, Jorge Pastor, Alejandro Ropero, John Stiven Ramírez and Hugo Sampedro are the chosen ones for this race whose origins date back to the first half of the 20th century.
“I think we have a pretty strong team, as they have already shown in the past Spanish championships and I think that both Carlos (García) and Jorge (Pastor) will do very well, because it is a Tour with a lot of mountains that they are doing very well,” said Sergio Hernández, the Spaniard from Avila at Polartec-Kometa U23. “To dispute the race at home is always a special illusion. Running on the roads I usually train on, with my people in the gutter cheering…. The track of this Vuelta is quite a demanding one. As the order of the stages has changed with respect to last year, the second one will be the decisive one, with Mijares climbing a few kilometres from the finish”.
The first stage, on 113.8 kilometres, will start and finish at El Tiemblo. This first afternoon stage, with an expected arrival time between 19:20 and 20:15, depending on the average speed, presents the orographic difficulties of La Paramera, Navalmoral and San Juan de la Nava. The second and last stage, morning, will be held between Navalacruz and Navarrevisca. A 139.3-kilometre journey that includes the Puerto del Pico, Alto del Arenal and the very long Puerto de Mijares, the top of the race, 16.5 kilometres from the finish line.
Rafa Díaz Justo, director: “We are back in the competition after a small mini technical stop, necessary for everyone, riders and staff, to get some air, to rest. It has been a few days without competition for us, but we have had the Vuelta Segovia or the San Pedro Classic in Irun, tests that have allowed us to see the form of our rivals for the end of the season that is coming up. In these three months all the careers that come to us are with elite, more veteran careers, with a level perhaps a little higher because some of them have even been professionals. We’re going to Ávila with a rather young team. I would like Carlos, after the national he did, to be our rider to take into account for the final general classification. But above all we also want to set the bases, set up and test for the four laps in a row that will come up this month, with Zamora and Seville immediately after. In the Vuelta a Ávila, which we arrived at well, we will meet tough rivals, either individually as Eusebio Pascual or as a group as Froiz. It’s not something that makes us uncomfortable, on the contrary, it gives us some peace of mind and will have an influence on the presence and weight of the race”.
Stages
7th July: El Tiemblo-El Tiemblo (113.8 km).
8 July: Navalacruz- Navarrevisca (139.3 km).
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
