The Clasica Araba Vitoria-Gasteiz, fourth round of the junior Copa de España
Almost a month after José Miguel Moreira finished second in the Clasica Navarra, the junior team returns to competition. The fifth edition of the Clasica Araba Vitoria-Gasteiz will be the stage where the riders of the team will put on their bibs again. In addition, the race will be valid for the Copa de España. The prestigious tournament reaches its fourth round with Oscar Orts as the best rider of the team in fourth position.
The members of the squad that will travel to Vitoria will be Iker Díaz who has recently achieved great results and is the leader of the Astur-Cántabro Trophy, Eleazar Jiménez and José Miguel Moreira who, together with Oscar Orts, Hugo Pradas and Hector Teruel, were part of the team that competed in Navarra, Ivan Loaisa who participated in Asturias a week before and finally, after several months in his native country and winning the title of Pan-American individual time trial champion, Robinson Rincón.
The route, as the organization itself describes it, does not have very hard climbs, but the mileage and the wear and tear of the continuous up and down of the profile will take its toll on the riders. Knowing how to manage one’s strength will be essential in this race. The riders will have to overcome five climbs during the 138 kilometres of the race. The Zaldiaran pass (3rd) on three occasions and the Vitoria pass (3rd) on another two. In addition, there will be five more climbs that will not count towards the king of the mountains classification, one of them just right after the start.
“I’m happy to start this part of the season in Vitoria, I’m looking forward to continue learning and to add as much as possible to the team”, explains Robinson Rincón on his return to European competition.
Isaac Cantón will travel to Vitoria with a very strong team after a long break: “After a break of several weeks without competition, we return to a race that can begin to decide the Copa de España. We have Oscar Orts 4th and we will bet on him. We bring a great team and above all a lot of desire and attitude.”
Vitoria-Gasteiz – Vitoria-Gasteiz (138km)
Photo: Martin Early
