A Friday of festive demand in Valencia
Trofeu Fira d´Agost de Xátiva
Xátiva-Xátiva (140 km)
Cycling, many of its major events, has a strong and undeniable link with the media world. Newspapers that bet on the sport of bicycles as an element that stimulates sales and at the same time generates content. But there are many competitions, especially in the youth and training categories, in which this genesis is linked to holidays and fairs. Tests that are integrated in municipal celebrations.
Such could be the case of the Valencian town of Xátiva and its Trofeu Fira d´Agost, which is held this Friday as part of a series of summer fairs where a multitude of events are organised which, from a sporting point of view, also have their ramifications in the world of tennis, horse riding or, above all, motorbikes with the Fira de Xàtiva Speed Trophy which takes place every 15th August. Two days later, on the 17th, it is the turn of the bikes. Valencia, the Valencia Region, the region of La Costera and the neighbouring regions, is a land of great interest and no less practical.
The Polartec-Kometa U23 is one of the formations present in this Trofeu Fira d´Agost where the Italian Daniele Cantoni, the Dutchman Wesley Mol, the Portuguese (future rider of the continental team) Daniel Viegas, the Alicante Jorge Pastor, the Andalusians José Antonio García and Sergio García and, after their recent presence in the velodromes with the Spanish national team to face the Europeans of Glasgow (twentieth in the individual pursuit race), the Spaniard Joan Martí Bennassar will compete.
The 2018 edition will be the thirtieth. There will be 140 kilometres to cover with a positive slope of 1,500 metres. In 2017 only 47 riders were able to finish a race that this year proposes to pass through the heights of Serragrosa, Portixol, the very hard El Campello and again Serragrosa, the latter 10 km from the end. “This is a pretty tough start, with a smoother finish, which is not for 100% pure sprinters, but for fast men who have a good start in the middle of the mountain. A course perhaps for a small squad,” said Rafa Diaz Justo, the U23 team’s director.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
