EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team U23 concludes a profitable week of training camp in Oliva Nova
The U23 team of the Fundació Contador has finished this Monday, December 20, his first pre-season training camp. For a week, and sharing retreat with the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team, the whole team and staff have met in Oliva Nova Beach & Golf Resort to lay the foundations of the new project 2022. Seventeen cyclists, twelve of them newcomers and with youth as a general tone.
🖼️ #Pretemporada2022. Una foto de familia después de una jornada de rodaje más suave. ¡Un grupo de chavales excepcional! #EOLOKOMETACyclingTeam #EquipoSub23 #CoffeeRide pic.twitter.com/nOrNtbCQVI
— FundContadorTeam (@FundContaTeam) December 17, 2021
“A very profitable week, we have been able to work fantastically in the best conditions. Oliva Nova is a magnificent place to hold a pre-season training camp. What I’ve seen after all these days is a great squad, very compact and very uniform on the different pitches. We are going to have a pretty strong team, I wouldn’t dare to single out one discipline, maybe a little less in the sprints with the absence of David Martín, but in the mountains we are a strong team and we have a very good mix of youth and experience”, summarises director Rafa Díaz Justo.
The training camp started with the medical examinations of the cyclists by the medical services of Premiummadrid. The incremental test, the cardiac ultrasound and other tests were used to evaluate the state of health of all the riders. This first day also served for the celebration of some talks and meetings led by Diaz Justo or the trainers Carlos Barredo and Giuseppe di Maria, and had its grand finale with a joint event with the entire team and staff of EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team where Fran Contador, general manager of the teams, broke down the activities of the Contador Foundation and its projects.
On the AURUM bicycle, after the protocol adjustments of measures, many hours of work distributed in sessions of different duration in the time, also some softer day, and all this by the formidable routes of the Marina Alta, epicentre these days of great part of the concentrations of the first teams of the international panorama. Vall de Ebo, the Coll dels Sorrels or the Coll de Rates were some of the orographic enclaves where the work was carried out.
Seven days of work with no shortage of anecdotes. During a stop in a ditch to plan the next part of the training, the father of the professional Tosh Van den Sande, who lives nearby, came out to say hello and offer coffee. And also many reunions. David Martín and Álex Martín, who are both with the ProTeam, greeted their former teammates, this season, in the U23 team, with special affection. Teammates who have contributed to their successes and with this group work have contributed their small impulse for the jump to professionals of both of them.
#Pretemporada2022. Otra productiva jornada de trabajo. Seguimos sumando kilómetros, fortaleciendo el bloque y disfrutando de unos entornos maravillosos.#EOLOKOMETACyclingTeam #EquipoSub23 pic.twitter.com/dSO3O81pS7
— FundContadorTeam (@FundContaTeam) December 15, 2021
“It’s been a really productive week, with everything very organised. Very professionalised. The atmosphere with the teammates has been magnificent, we’ve really bonded,” says Pablo Uría, one of the new faces in the team for this coming season. “One of the things I liked the most was when Ivan Basso came to our table at the dinners to chat about cycling, to be interested in us and to get to know us”, he adds.
Antonio González, who promotes from the junior team, says: “The stage has been unbeatable. A very, very profitable week in all senses. We have done a good block of training in an unbeatable environment such as the one offered by Oliva Nova. It’s a magnificent area for training. In addition, this type of training camp helps to form a group among all the teammates. I’ve loved spending this week with the team and now it’s time to spend a few days at home with the family!”.
“I’ve never been training in Spain before and that’s why this training camp has been very special for me. At home it’s practically snowing and here it’s almost 20 degrees at some point. The training routes are very entertaining, the traffic is very respectful. You work in very good conditions and the scenery makes you enjoy the experience even more,” says Andrea Pietrobon.
The EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team U23 squad is formed by Edoardo Mauro Alleva, Marcel Camprubí, David Domínguez, Ramón Fernández, Arnau Gilabert, Antonio González, Sebastiano Minoia, Andrea Montoli, Francisco Muñoz, Manuel Oioli, Andrea Pietrobon, Davide Piganzoli, Gabriele Raccagni, Javi Serrano, Fernando Tercero, Marc Terrasa and Pablo Uría.
