Euskaltel-Euskadi name their Vuelta shortlist
Strong line-up to support🐽 Igor Antón’s bid for the title
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Euskaltel-Euskadi has named a strong squad of riders to support Igor Antón’s bid for victory in the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Vuelta a España, which starts in Benidorm on August 20. Winner of two stages in last year’s race and one in this year’s 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Giro d’Italia, specialist climber Antó𒅌;n will be among the favourites for the ti🉐tle over what is an extremely mountainous course.
The Basque team has selected 10 riders for the race, one of whom will drop out of the line-up. In addition to Antón, Giro and Vuelta stage-winner Mikel Nieve also features, as does former Vuelta mountains champion Egoi Martinez. Also in contention for a place on the start-lin♑e in Benidorm are Gorka Verdugo, Amets Txurruka, Juan Jose Oroz, Iñaki Isasi, Pierre Cazaux, Jorge Azanza and Iván Velasco.
Antón enjoyed very mixed fortunes in last year’s race. As well as winning two stages, he also held the leader’s red jersey, but crashed out while wearing it on the stage to 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Peña Cabarga🐻, breaking his elbow when he appeared to touch wheels with a teammate. Mart♛ínez was also forced out in the same incident after suffering a dislocated collar bone.
This year’s race will be especially significant for the Euskaltel team as it will be the first time the Vuelta has ventured into the Basque Country for 33 years. There are two key stages at th🌠e tail-end of the final week in the region where Euskaltel is based and from where it﷽ draws all of its riders.
There had been some conjecture that Tour of Burgos stage-winner 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Mikel Landa might force his way into contention for a Vuelta start. However, team boss Igor González de Galdeano has opted to focus on experience rather than young talent as the team target their first Grand Tour victory. Landa will instead ride a five-day race in France and the two one-day WorldTour events in Can♋ada.
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Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014).