Stefano Oldani and Alejandro Ropero, stagiaires with Polartec-Kometa
The Polartec-Kometa continental team will have two new riders by the end of the season. Italy’s Stefano Oldani and Alejandro Ropero from Granada are joining the continental training discipline as’stagiaires’. More youth for a young squad, in constant formation.
Oldani (Busto Arsizio, 10 January 1998) comes from the Transalpine Team Colpack and will debut in his new colours in the Tour of Hungary, which will take place between 14 and 19 August. “I am very happy with this opportunity and looking forward to working with the Polartec-Kometa team”, says an Oldani who, questioned about his favourite cyclist and his profile as a rider, said: “I admire Vincenzo Nibali and, as far as I am concerned, I think I am a complete rider”.
“He is one of the Italian U23 cyclists who seems to be making the most progress,” said Félix García Casas, sports manager for the Alberto Contador Foundation’s teams. “He is a very good climber who, on another level, can make significant progress with our team, where we can give him the serenity and stability he may lack to prove his worth as a rider”.
This promotion of Ropero (Otura, Granada; April 17, 1998) is the concretion of the firm commitment of the Foundation to the training of the runners of its quarry. The Andalusian will make his debut in the Vuelta a Burgos, between the 7th and the 11th of August.
“It’s my first contact with professional cycling, plus running with WorldTour formations, and I’m more motivated than ever. Since the Vuelta a Ávila I have been preparing myself to the full and thoroughly, a whole month of hard work, but I am confident that I can do well in Burgos. My main objective is to restore the trust placed in me in the form of good work for the rest of the team. But it’s also a dream to be able to run with my usual idols and see myself there in the professional squad. It’s clear that it’s not a dream at all real, because of the fact that I’m a stagiaire, but it’s a huge push, an incentive to motivate me and look for the jump in category, which I’ll be looking for next year to consolidate a good season,” says Ropero.
García Casas explains about his promotion: “Alejando is a runner who arrived at the campus the first year, did not enter on that occasion, repeated the following year and entered. In junior he proved to be a broker of an important solvency. He’s earned a spot on the team. He is a very complete runner, he passes the middle mountain well, he is fast and knows how to read the races. Wardrobe is very good at getting into cuts. And now he also has an opportunity to take his training a step further. I would point out that he has been a broker for the Foundation practically since its inception. And in Burgos he can do very well to help, and get into the cuts for his bravery. It has a very high potential for the future”.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
