Alejandro Ropero’s Spanish journey from Poland to the Czech Republic

The competitive embers of the Orlen Grand Prix have not yet been extinguished and the calendar of the Nations Cup is already looking towards one of its most prestigious and famous events: Course de la Paix. The Czech race, icon of the bicycle sport in Eastern Europe, welcomes between Thursday and Sunday a new edition in which the Kometa Cycling Team will be represented by Alejandro Ropero, summoned by the Spanish U23 team to face this race. Urko Berrade, Unai Cuadrado, Alberto Serrano, Jon Agirre and Asier Etxeberria complete the team.

The cyclist from Otura has just finished 33rd in the GP Orlen, a race in which he had an outstanding performance with the selection in the team time trial on Saturday (where Spain finished fourth, 30 seconds behind France, the eventual winner); on Sunday, in a demanding stage, the Andalusian turned to the support of his teammates. Unai Cuadrado would finish sixth this second and last stage, a position that allowed him to finish fifth in the final overall.

“The performance of the national team has been great. On a personal level I would have liked to have been able to be further ahead, because the circuit adapted super well to my characteristics, with those very hard ramps. But I was focused on working and supporting my team-mates and I wasn’t worried about finishing in front more or less at the end.  My goal and my mission were different. Of the race, the way of hurrying and disputing the position was of the calibre of the one lived in the Tour of Flanders, the people here have a lot of level”, comments the own Ropero. “I hope to do even better in the Peace Race”.

The sixth round of the Nations Cup calendar, its penultimate event, starts on Thursday with a two-kilometre prologue in the town of Krnov. And for the next three days, a track where orographic difficulties abound in the Hrubý Jeseník mountains; especially in the second stage, with a high finish in the hydroelectric power station of Monte Dlouhé Stráne (1,312 m) after 148.5 km and with previous ascent to the demanding Pristieresek pod Horni (1,157 m). However, there will also be terrain for damage both in the first stage in line (Jesenik-Rymarov, 134.2 km) and in the third and final stage (Jesenik-Jesenik, 171.5 km with the last two on a slope with an average of 8%).

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)