Alejandro Ropero, summoned by the Spanish selection for the De Ronde under23
The sports structures of the Spanish Cycling Federation are again fixed in the riders of the teams of the Fundación Alberto Contador with a view to the composition of their formations for the tests of the different UCI Nation´s Cup. In this case the appointment is the prestigious Ronde Van Vlaanderen Beloften, the Tour of Flanders under 23, and the involved is the Granada Alejandro Ropero.
Ramon Gonzalez Arrieta has called the Otura for a race to be held on Saturday April 13, a classic that is a vital experience before many of the great names of the world cycling scene and allows riders to compete in scenarios as iconic as the Kapelmuur. Kiko Galván (Lizarte), Manuel Peñalver (Burgos BH), Iñigo Elosegui (Lizarte), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Urko Berrade (Euskadi Murias) complete the team.
This call, in addition, suppose the first that the Andalusian receives on the part of the Spanish selection. “It’s going to be an opportunity that I’ve been waiting for for many years and which I’m really looking forward to. I take it as an experience and of course I hope to do very well. It’s an opportunity that is appreciated, because it’s a unique opportunity, that we have to enjoy to the maximum and that will allow us to continue growing as cyclists,” he says. Ropero will give continuity to the sports structures of the Foundation in a race where last season were present with their respective countries several riders of the continental team.
“The Tour of Flanders is a race that excites me especially because it is my first call for a Spanish team. The cobblestones are not a surface in which I have competed a lot, I cannot say that I am a specialist or anything like that. But they are races that I like very much. There aren’t many cobblestones in Spain. Curiously, when I was a first year junior, I competed with Fenavin, the only race I won all year round, besides the Andalusian time trial championship, it was a race with cobblestone sections that we disputed in Segovia. It wasn’t a race with a very high level nor is the type of stone the same, but I liked it and I did well”, he continues.
Questioned about the route of the next Tour of Flanders, Ropero provides the detail that his legs already know one of the scenarios he will have to face in a few days: the Paterberg. “In my first year within the Foundation, I was a second year youth, we went to compete in Belgium in some races. One day both Hugo Sampedro and I had the opportunity to climb it”.
The De Ronde amateur is disputed on 167,5 kilometers with departure (neutralized) and arrival in the locality and Oudenaarde. On the menu, up to 15 hills. Leberg, Berendries, Tenbosse, Kappelmuur, Kanarieberg, Oude Kwaremont, Paterberg, Kortekeer, Taaienberg, Ladeuze, Boigneberg, Wolvenberg, Achterberg and again Boigneberg and Wolvenberg. “In the end I face it with a lot of philosophy, I know it will be difficult. People who have experience in these scenarios have it easier by the subject of placement, by knowing perfectly when to squeeze and when not, by knowing which leaks will be good and which will not… And of course also touches the aspect of luck, it is not just a matter of pedals. There may be falls or other factors that condition the race,” concludes Ropero.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
