The junior team concentrates in Oliva Nova to prepare for the 2025 season
The 15 riders of the Alberto Contador Foundation junior team have shared four days of concentration at the Oliva Nova Beach & Golf Hotel complex. An opportunity to strengthen ties, to carry out specific work and also to plan the 2025 season, which will mean the internationalisation of the U19 squad.
A favourable climate in the middle of a cold spell and with rain in most of Spain. A hotel complex with all the comforts for accommodation, the storage of material, the carrying out of tests, the giving of talks or simply to share time among the cyclists. Oliva Nova was again from 6 to 9 December the headquarters of Polti Kometa, in this case of the youth team of the Alberto Contador Foundation, before tomorrow the turn of the professional squad begins.
As soon as the junior cyclists arrived last Friday at the Oliva Nova Beach & Golf Hotel facilities, the planned schedule was set in motion. That same afternoon, the first contact with the AURUM Magma that the cyclists will use in competitions in 2025. A ride of just 2 hours that served to fine-tune the measurements and adjustments of the bikes.
During the weekend, longer and more specific training sessions were carried out, exceeding 3 and a half hours, which were complemented with mobility and strength work sessions with the team of trainers. In addition, the meetings with the staff have allowed to set the bases and methodology of work with the riders to ensure their optimal progression taking advantage of the youth category.
Rafa Díaz Justo, sports director of the Polti Kometa U19 team: ‘It has been a relatively short training camp, but very intense. We are satisfied with the work done, which began with the delivery of the bikes that each rider will have to train at home, and match with the one that the team will have ready to compete in each race. We have made the most of the time and the result has been very fruitful. There have been talks on nutrition, preparation, with the staff, and also quality training sessions. It’s a compact group of cyclists, who have shown their level and from the beginning have been very cohesive. We have our sights set on the Spanish calendar, but also on the international events that we will face in France, Belgium and Portugal’.
Fran Contador, general manager of the Alberto Contador Foundation: ‘The youth team project for 2025 is very exciting. I have been able to spend time with them in this training camp, I have seen their professionalism despite their youth and it reminds me of the beginnings of the Contador Foundation, with the desire to do a great job and to grow on the road with good results’.
Now comes the winter period, very important for planning and training, which each Polti Kometa U19 cyclist will face with his loved ones, but with an eye on an exciting 2025 season.
