La Serena – Las Vegas Altas inaugurates a long awaited Copa de España with the Circuito del Guadiana
Circuito del Guadiana / Copa de España
Don Benito – Don Benito (178 km)
The town of Don Benito in Extremadura hosts one more year the start of the Copa de España (Spanish Cup) Elite and U23 with a traditional Circuito del Guadiana that promises strong emotions and that, in terms of mood, arrives in an excellent moment after the good taste left by the recent victory of Fernando Tercero in the Memorial Manuel Sanroma. The rider from Valdepeñas will not be taking part in the race in Badajoz, but four of his teammates will be present in the ‘seven’: Marcel Camprubí, Fran Muñoz, Andrea Pietrobon and Javi Serrano. The Catalan Arnau Gilabert and the Asturians Ramón Fernández and Pablo Uría, in what is the competitive debut for the three of them, complete the team.
Don Benito, in the news these days along with the neighbouring town of Villanueva de la Serena due to the referendum in which the future union of the two cities under a single administration has been voted, already demonstrated during the last Vuelta a España, in which one stage finished in Villanueva, the great love of cycling that exists in the whole area. The day, really the whole weekend due to the celebration of Master races and the Spanish Junior Cup, will be a great party with some classic features: the great circuit where the ascent to Magacela emerges as a great difficulty. A kilometre with ramps of 11% that in this 2022 will present nuances: some works in the town centre of Magacela force to make a small change in the ascent, which lengthens a few hundred metres due to a small modification in the route.
“The first race of the Copa has essentially the same route as always”, says director Rafa Díaz Justo. “It is a long course, without major orographic difficulties, except for the ascent to Magacela. In recent years, the first two laps have been the scene of an initial breakaway in which most of the teams leave a bit to do. On the third lap, the pace quickens a lot and the breakaway, if it doesn’t fall, is just a stone’s throw away from doing so. On that third pass the peloton was already getting violent. On the last climb, the race has broken up a lot in recent years. There were only four or five riders or a group of twenty or thirty, no more… These are the kind of conditions that can be expected if the wind, rain and cold don’t appear and if the weather conditions of recent years are not the same”.
Javi Serrano, Madrid rider of the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team: “We go with many desire after the great weekend that we have had in Almagro. Personally I have felt very well and I think that it has been an excellent stage to catch the rhythm of competition. The Guadiana Circuit is also a race where the average speed is usually very high. Magacela forces you to be attentive, because there are always accelerations there and the percentages invite to several race situations. We have a very solid team and we can have a great race”.
Andrea Pietrobon: “This past weekend has brought me a lot of joy and satisfaction and I am very optimistic for the next races. I hope to improve my performance in this first round of the Spanish Cup, I am convinced that we are on the right track to reach my best level. The Sanroma Memorial was my first race in Spain and I was surprised by both the organisation and the route and also the discovery of new routes in Spain is an incentive. I am very happy with the team, I have very good training partners and a very good staff”.
“We are travelling without a pure sprinter like David Martín, although it is no less true that we have several riders with a good top speed, like Javi or Fran. In the section of the rivals, the Memorial Sanroma has left us clear the reference of Andoni López de Abetxuko, who is very strong and is a fast cyclist to whom I see capable of passing Magacela and can be one of the great favourites in his team, together with the Portuguese Lucas Simoes, who debuts in the category, has done nice things as a youth and can be one of the revelations”, adds Díaz Just. Josué Gómez has also shown in Almagro that he is in good form. Lizare’s squad is yet to be discovered, although it has always had, has and will have great teams. And all this without losing sight of other teams. It is an edition in which it seems that there are not so many pure sprinters and the impression, from the routes that Aiztondo, Valenciaga or Vigo are going to present, is that the final winner will not be a typical sprinter. As always, however, we will go cup by cup, race by race. With great enthusiasm, that’s for sure. Let’s see what the adventure has in store in terms of crashes, injuries, unforeseen events and other intangibles”.
