Comeback to the Tour of Cantabria: “As an amateur you can never relax, but on this route even less”
Vuelta Ciclista a Cantabria
From 3 to 5 september
The U23 structure of the Alberto Contador Foundation returns to the roads to face the three demanding days of competition that a new edition of the Vuelta a Cantabria proposes. The race organised by Sportpublic, in which the current Kometa-Xstra Cycling Team has not taken part since 2014, presents a complicated route, faithful to the mountainous terrain. The Vuelta does not have any of the great passes of the Cantabrian Mountains in its region, but this does not mean that there is a lack of mountains. During its three stages there is a lot of leg-breaking terrain and climbs that are well known in the world of cycling and cycling tourism. On all three days, in the last third of the stage, there will always be a climb that can blow up the development of the stage. Two of the three stages, Maliaño and Colindres, will be repeated for 2019.
The Churi, which will be passed twice in the last kilometres, will be that judge of peace on the first day which also includes Esles Llerana and La Braguía, located at the mid-point of the race and one of the two big ports of this edition. For Friday, a demanding proposal in eastern Cantabria with Hoyo Menor and Campo Layal as high points. On Saturday, in a territory recently used by young cyclists in the iconic Vuelta al Besaya, a double pass through the Collada de Cieza that will be fundamental. Plenty of ground to break up the race, ground that will require a strong team to tuck in their trump cards for both the partial victories and the overall fight.
The Catalan Edu Rodés is a great connoisseur of Cantabrian geography, the same one he trained in for many hours during his past in the now defunct Aldro Team cycling project. Rodés is part of the team that will take part in this year’s edition and which is completed by the Italian Alessio Acco, the Czech David Andrlé, the man from La Mancha Fernando Tercero, the Asturian Yago Segovia, the Andalusian David Martín and his Barcelona fellow countryman Álex Martín. “We’ll see how everything goes later on the road, but the team is doing very well and I refer to the latest results. It’s a great team. And personally, this is an ideal date to face the return to competition in one lap”, says Rodés.
The Barcelona native talks about this Vuelta a Cantabria: “It’s a joy to come back. In Cantabria there is cycling, there are routes, there is a geography capable of providing spectacular stages… That amateur cycling is returning to competition after the Nationals and doing so with this tour is magnificent. I personally have very good memories, I spent a whole year there. That’s a lot of cycling hours, in beastly surroundings. As far as I can see, the route does not invite relaxation. This route favours an offensive, ambitious cycling, a cycling to try things out, a cycling that Rafa [Diaz Justo] likes, come on. Already in amateur cycling you can never relax, but in this race even less so. Possibly the hardest pass is La Braguía, because it is more demanding on that side, but given its location it will not be so decisive; and in the end there is El Churi, which is a steep slope that grabs a lot and, being narrow, always generates cuts. Cieza, on the last day, with its ramps, also gets quite a lot of ballast. On the second day, the passage through La Bien Aparecida will surely end up being very hard”.
The stages.
Stage 1: Maliaño-Maliaño (145.9 km).
Stage 2: Colindres-Colindres (141.1 km).
Stage 3: Los Corrales de Buelna-Los Corrales de Buelna (148.8 km).
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
