O Gran Camiño closes the Spanish tour
The cancellation of the Vuelta a Andalucía, reduced to a 5 kilometres time trial, leads Team Polti Kometa to focus its efforts on the Galician race while the competition continues in Rwanda.
Rain, low temperatures and a spectacular route. Galicia hosts the last race of the Spanish tour that has marked the last month and a half for Team Polti Kometa. The start of the season in which exciting performances have been achieved, and in which the arrangements for an Italian calendar that starts next week are being made.
O Gran Camiño, the race that saw Francesco Gavazzi wear the mountains jersey last year, returns with a line-up of big names on its roster. But also with four stages that will demand the maximum: a start in A Coruña with a time trial of 14.8 kilometres that includes the final cobbled ramp up to the Hercules Tower; the second day with four climbs (and as many others to make the stage harder) with the opportunity for a breakaway or reduced sprint; the third which will be the longest with 170 kilometres and four mountain passes; with the fourth day as the queen stage that includes the final double ascent to Monte Aloia (1st category) to decide the winner of the overall classification.
The Team Polti Kometa line-up, balanced, will try to be protagonist in all terrains with a brave Davide Bais, always fighting for the breakaways; the climbers Paul Double and Matteo Fabbro, who will have several days in which to show their potential together with Álex Martín. Both for the initial time trial and the days for powerful men, Mirco Maestri will be the reference and next to him, Andrea Pietrobon and the young Fran Muñoz, who is making a great start of the season, will be the men who will show the team’s jersey in O Gran Camiño.
Matteo Fabbro: “Finally we couldn’t really make our debut in Andalucía, so my feelings and ambitions are the same now for the Gran Camiño. I think we are in great shape, but training has nothing to do with the competition and I want to confirm the good moment with a great performance in the race”.
Jesús Hernández, sports director: “We face O Gran Camiño aware of the top participation that we are going to find. Great teams, with their best riders. We will try to be protagonists, the initial time trial will help us to measure ourselves and look for our place. On the day to day, the objective is to get into the breakaways and confirm Fabbro’s good level. After the first hard stage, we will take stock of our options with respect to the big favourites and from there we will set our objectives. We are clear about our battle and we hope to get great results”.
