The famous Memorial Valenciaga closes the team’s week in the Basque Country
With very little time to rest, the under-23 team competed in the Vuelta al Bidasoa and the Santikutz Klasika and will close the week and a half of competition in the Basque Country on Sunday with the renowned Memorial Valenciaga in Eibar. The race will be the eighth round of the Copa de España, which is slowly reaching its last races. Gabriele Raccagni (11th) and Dario Giuliano (16th) are the best riders of the team in the overall classification.
The team will race with the same squad in Eibar as in Legazpi. Samuel Novak arrives in great form after achieving very consistent results in the recent competitions. Along with him, Dario Giuliano and Pablo García will be the cyclists with a more climbing profile. Gabriele and Tommaso Bessega together with Gabriele Raccagni and Manuel Sanroma will complete the team’s squad.
The route of the race is the usual one with start and finish in the town of Eibar. The cyclists will complete 163 kilometres with 5 mountain passes: Itziar (3rd), Meagas (3rd), Elgeta (2nd), Ixua (1st) and San Miguel (3rd). The last three, and more specifically the passage through Ixua, normally marked the final result in a race of enormous fame in the world of cycling. It will be tough race that will close the block of races on Basque soil.
Miguel Gómez will once again be at the controls of the team for the Memorial Valenciaga: “We have learned a lot from what happened in Legazpi and the good thing is that we already have a new competition”, he explains. “I still think the same, we have 3 men with very similar characteristics in the race, especially Dario as a pure climber and it seems that the weather will be more favorable. The race with the chained passes that starts in Bergara and that will decide who can win on the climb of Ixua and then in San Miguel with possible attacks will be even more selected”, he adds. “Novak, Giuliano and Pablo have to get there with clear chances of winning. As we saw in Legazpi, the team with the Bessega brothers, Raccagni and Sanroma are in very good shape and do a great job so that the teammates can compete in this kind of races”, he finishes.
53 Memorial Valenciaga: Eibar – Eibar (163,3km)
Photo: Bidasoa Itzulia / Ziklix
