Amorebieta tests the point of performance created in the Sicilian routes
65ª Klasika de Primavera
Amorebieta-Amorebieta (171.6 km)
The recent participation in the Giro de Sicilia has left a great taste in the mouth of the Kometa Cycling Team. The continental formation of the Fundación Alberto Contador had a great group performance in the Sicilian race, topped by the ninth final place of Michel Ries in the general classification and the second of the team in the squad classification. This Sunday the team will go to Biscay to face the 65th edition of the Klasika de Primavera (Amorebieta Spring Klasika) and four of its seven representatives come from competing on Italian soil.
Isaac Cantón, José Antonio García, Juan Pedro López and Stefano Oldani will find competitive continuity in the Basque Country, where Juan Camacho, the Italian Samuele Rubino and the Portuguese Daniel Viegas will join. “The team has been impressive in Sicily. I think we are going to go the same or better in Amorebieta”, says the Portuguese. “I’m happy with the form point I have right now and personally I think I’m going to have a good race, because in these last days I feel very good”. “It’s very good for everyone that the team was so good in the Giro of Sicily. Doing things well gives motivation to continue growing and to face the races with much more confidence. These days at home I’ve been able to catch my breath, rest and continue training very well for what’s to come”, said Camacho.
The Klasika presents its most traditional route, with a more favourable first part and a final route, the decisive one, in which we have to face the Montecalvo/Muniketagane and Autzgane mountain passes on three occasions, with the last one less than six kilometres from the finish line. Like the Vuelta a España, the Klasika has been disputed uninterruptedly since 1955. In recent years, the race has become a private preserve of the Movistar Team, a WorldTour formation that will be part of the race again this year.
The last four editions have been won by some of its riders and in six of the last seven years the telephone team has taken the victory. The 2018 edition, in which the current Kometa Cycling Team was present in its first year of life, was a special edition for the team, marked by the presence of two riders, Isaac Cantón and Diego Pablo Sevilla, who had just run the Tour de Flandes amateur with the selection, missed the flight and faced a road trip. The Dutchman Kevin Inkelaar, twenty-first, was the first classified of the squad then. “I’m really looking forward to playing a good role in Amorebieta; last year I couldn’t finish it and I want to do very well there. Those of us who come from Sicily have to take advantage of this point of form. These days are very important to recover and rest well,” says Isaac Canton. “Sicily has become very hard, but it’s history and the important thing is to recover for what’s to come,” concludes Lopez, fourteenth overall in the Italian round.
