The Memorial Momparler returns, revamped, and Haimar Etxeberria come back to racing
The Memorial Pascual Momparler returns to the roads as part of the Spanish Cup and with a new route that will be based on a circuit with up to five passes over the Alto de Sumacárcer (3 kilometres at 6%) as a major difficulty. A Pascual Momparler Memorial with a World Cup feel to it after his experiences as a monument or as a mountain day. The Valencian event, which started in 2013 with an unusual route characterised by several passes through the cobbled stretch between orange trees near La Pobla Llarga, ended up including a tougher route years later with climbs to Calderón, Campello, Cumbres de Valencia and the Santa Ana hermitage. After not being held in 2022 due to traffic issues, the Memorial has been reinvented.
Tommaso Bessega, Haimar Etxeberria, Ramón Fernández, Raúl López, Fran Muñoz, Gabriele Raccagni and Pablo Uría make up the seven with which the U23 structure of the Fundación Contador will compete.
Etxeberria will be back on a bib after his recent accident and the consequent period away from the bike.
“I’m really looking forward to it. The mere fact of competing again makes me happy”, he said from Irún. “I’m training well, I’m hardly feeling any discomfort. After the accident I spent about ten days without being able to do anything, with a lot of pain in the coccyx area and some pain in the rib area. When I started cycling it was hard for me to stand up, but fortunately that’s all behind me now and I can finally see myself back in the team. Now let’s see how we are doing. I hope to be able to help my teammates a lot and I’m also looking forward to see how I really am to work even harder for the future”.
Rafa Díaz Justo, director of the U23 structure of the Contador Foundation: “The race repeats several times a loop in which we climb a third category pass that, in addition, is not descended as it is crowned, but gives way to a wasteland and an area with some traps. This will make it tougher. With these five passes, the format of the race changes with respect to recent editions and it is no longer the best event for a, shall we say, purer climber. It is a format for a more classicist cyclist, for a rider who knows how to ride at the top, who maintains maximum concentration during the four hours of the race and who, particularly in this case, knows how to handle and manage the heat well. The good thing is that by passing the same point several times, the water points will be well connected, which is always a help. In the end there will be two races, as in the last few races: one for the general classification, in which Caja Rural is allowing breakaways with a view to reducing the points, and another for the race itself. It will depend a lot on where and when the breakaway takes place for it to be successful”.
Memorial Momparler: Villanueva de Castellón – Villanueva de Castellón (162 km).
