Team Polti Kometa will debut its colours at the Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana
The big premiere. The first competitive pedal strokes for this 2024. The same enthusiasm, commitment and preparation as in previous seasons, but new colours and a new name for Team Polti Kometa. The Gsport jersey, the AURUM bike, all the new sponsors and also those who were already with the team. This Saturday the season starts with the Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana.
And Team Polti Kometa is ready, after an intense concentration in January precisely in Oliva, in Valencia, which has allowed to recognise many of the roads that the cyclists are going to face in this race. In its 2024 edition, the hardness is concentrated in the initial part of the 200 kilometres: start from La Nucia, ascent to Tàrbena, Coll de Rates, and the ascent to the Alto de Barx at kilometre 73. There will still be several steep areas, but after crossing Xátiva the route will be flat and favourable for a sprint finish in València.
Opportunity therefore for the bravest riders to move at the start, looking for the breakaway and their chance to take the mountains jersey. After that, time to control, and finally time for the sprinter teams to organise themselves in the chase of the escapees, position their sprinters and fight for the first victory of the season. The white, red and green jersey of Team Polti Kometa will be amongst the best
The block that will compete in the race presents up to three alternatives of fast cyclists, with the alternatives of the signing Manuel Peñalver (born in the Comunitat Valenciana), Giovanni Lonardi, the top-10-man in the final stretch of last season; and David Martín. The list of riders who will fight to place and position the sprinters is headed by a powerful and solvent Mirco Maestri in this role, together with Fran Muñoz and Andrea Pietrobon, exceptional in the previous work that seeks to avoid problems for the fast men. In the beginning, Germán Gómez will be able to demonstrate his strength in the mountains during the initial kilometres on the ascent to Coll de Rates, and thus be a protagonist in the important breakaway of the race.
Giovanni Lonardi already knows what it’s like to win in this race in 2022 and he faces this new opportunity with the same ambition: “We have prepared very well, every day we are doing our best to arrive in top condition for all the races at the beginning of the season. It won’t be easy, but we want to repeat the victory of two years ago and we are certainly on the right track to achieve it”.
Sporting director Stefano Zanatta values the participation of Team Polti Kometa in the Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana: “It is the first race of the year, and that is already a reason to be happy. Besides, we know what it’s like to win there. All this comes together in the debut of our new sponsor, the jersey and we hope to start the season as we finished the last one: riding well, with attitude and getting results. I have a lot of confidence in Lona, who is doing well, in Peñalver, who has a lot of speed for this type of finishes, and in general I think we have a great team for this race. We will be looking for the victory against really strong opponents, but I think that the work will pay off at the start of the season”.
