Vuelta a Cantabria as the end of the season

The Vuelta Cantabria made a big change at the beginning of the year from being a race for the under-23 category to present a great challenge for the juniors. This race, now of international category (2.1 M.J) will have three days of competition from Sunday to Tuesday.

The team will travel with a strong team that will seek to recover after a demanding Vuelta a la Ribera del Duero where the results were not as expected. Six cyclists will make up the squad. Matteo Compagnoni and Ivan Loaisa will repeat in the line-up after a weekend of coming back to racing for the first and three days of very regular competition for the second mentioned. Iker Díaz, Miguel Moreira, Óscar Orts and Hugo Pradas will be the four remaining riders competing in the last race of the season for the junior team.

The race will consist of three very varied stages. The first day, as usual in the editions for the under-23 category, will be an individual time trial in the streets of Santander. The 840-meter climb to La Atalaya will mark the first differences between the cyclists. The second day with 138 kilometers of distance will be a stage with a lot of wear and tear for the cyclists. They will face four ascents to the Alto de la Montaña (3rd), the last three on a circuit that they will enter midway through the stage.

The last stage of the race will also have a very demanding profile and a mileage that will probably exceed three hours. The ascent to El Caracol (2nd) and La Braguía (2nd) will select the bunch. In addition, the finish will be in the Cuevas del Monte Castillo (3rd), which despite not being too hard, will make a difference in the dispute for the victory of the race.

Hugo Pradas: “We will go and give everything to try to win. I’ve been preparing for this race for a few months after a crash. In the previous races I have been feeling better, but I was missing some pace in my legs. It is one of the objectives of the season and we will go at 200%. I would like to do well in the prologue”.

Iker Díaz: “I’m looking forward to this last race. I think I can do well, I know the routes well and I have a very good feeling. The time trial on the first day will mark a little bit the race and we hope it will be good for the whole team”.

Isaac Canton: “We are really looking forward to another very high level race. The weather is not going to be easy, the route it’s hard, it’s a UCI race… We return to the competition with a solid team where there are three or four names to highlight”.

Stage 1: C.R.I Santander – La Atalaya (0,84km)

Stage 2: Vioño – Vioño (138,3km)

Stage 3: Puente Riesgo – Cuevas del Monte Castillo (127km)

Photos by Martin Early