The Spanish Cup, one of the main objectives of the season, starts this Sunday in Extremadura
53rd Circuito del Guadiana
Don Benito-Don Benito (171.4 km)
The town of Don Benito becomes again this weekend in the Mecca of the Spanish formative cycling with the celebration of new edition of the Circuito del Guadiana and all its programming of races. In front of it, on Sunday morning, the fundamental commitment of the whole menu, there is an elite test and sub23 that, in addition, has been hosting the first test of the Spanish Cup category for a few years. The Kometa Cycling Team, one of the fixed teams in the list of participating teams, goes to Extremadura for another year with the highest aspirations. The competition will be tough and victories are always difficult to achieve, but the Spanish Cup is a clear objective for the U23 team of the Fundación Alberto Contador.
The Balearic Joan Martí Bennassar, the Madrid Carlos García, the Rioja Arturo Grávalos, the Andalusians Sergio García and Alejandro Ropero and the Asturians Edu Pérez-Landaluce and Yago Segovia compose the first seven that presents the team directed by Rafa Díaz Justo. A powerful block that has already demonstrated its capacity to animate the races in the recent Memorial Manuel Sanroma de Almagro. Six of the riders now present in Extremadura competed in the race in La Mancha. “In Almagro we have seen that the team has a good level and that this year we can do nice things, it came well to check the state of form and to begin to take competition pace for this weekend. To Don Benito we go with a lot of desire, with the intention of playing our tricks to make a good race and begin to add to make a good overall, “says Carlos García.
The Circuito del Guadiana presents the classic route, the four laps to a layout slightly superior to the 42 kilometers where they emphasize four steps by the town of Magacela, a hill of 1,1 kilometers with an average slope of 10,8% and a maximum ramps of 20% in which it is usually concentrated a lot of pubic. Its location 20 kilometres from the summit of arrival contributes more an element of wear than of definition, but in the field of strategies everything is possible. “The Circuito del Guadiana is a race that arouses a lot of interest. Its analysis is very different depending on the category we are talking about. In U23 there is more organization at the level of teams, so the fight for victory passes, usually passes through larger groups. It is the first of the Cup and all the teams arrive with that uncertainty of how they are going to handle themselves, of how they are going to position themselves”, explains Félix García Casas, sports manager of the teams of the Fundación Alberto Contador. “It’s a very fast race, where the averages are usually around 42 km/h. The ascent to Magacela or the wind, if it appears, do a lot of damage, but where many times the most definitive movements take place are later: on the steep slope of a stretch of road near La Haba”.
Edu Pérez-Landaluce is one of the new faces of the Kometa Cycling Team: “For Sunday I’m really looking forward to it, physically I think I’m very well and I think that with the team we’re going to opt for everything. Maybe Don Benito by route does not suit us at all, but surely we will be in the dispute of the race. His countryman Yago Segovia agrees: “Probably not the best of races for the team, but I think those four steps up the steep slope can do a lot. And I see a very good team for this season. On a more personal side I travel with a lot of motivation for the sensations I am having. Both Asturians were in the team of the Sanroma Memorial, as the aforementioned Carlos García: “The appointment of Almagro served us to see that the preparation is going well. I also noticed that I am very watched, as I was in the middle of last season, and I take that in a very positive way because people consider that you are danger. It’s a motivation to get a little better. And at the team level we are very optimistic”.
On Sunday, the answer to all the unknowns and first pedals of a very interesting Spanish Cup.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
