“The Vuelta a Burgos has become a symbol for cycling”

A few minutes after the International Cycling Union (UCI) confirmed the final calendar for this atypical 2020 season, a concentrated calendar between July and November, the sports management of the Kometa-Xstra Cycling Team was already working on the calendar that will have the continental structure of the Alberto Contador Foundation. Although the details will be specified in the next weeks, from the first contact the Vuelta a Burgos or the Tour de Hungary emerge as fundamental commitments.

In the case of the Burgos Race, organized by the Burgos Provincial Council, its celebration will depend on the final opinion of the Spanish Ministry of Health. This opinion will put an end to the doubts that have arisen regarding the viability of the event and, above all, the suitability of the moment. If the organization sees viable its dispute, there will be a race on the dates scheduled between July 28 and August 1. A Vuelta a Burgos that handles almost fifty requests and to which several names are already linked when it comes to integrating its list of participants.

“The Vuelta a Burgos has become a symbol for cycling. It is the first big race in this new calendar and its celebration would be a milestone. Firstly because it would serve to leave behind a few very complicated months for all those who make up this sport, a quarter without races and many uncertainties. Then because it would calm the desire for competition that many riders and teams maintain. And of course, because its dispute itself would mean the return to a certain normality and the first firm step to, in some way, save the season from a merely competitive prism”, says Jesús Hernández, director of the team.

The Madrid native, always working hand in hand with trainer Carlos Barredo and second director Dario Andriotto, even has a team base in mind with which he would take part on some roads in Burgos where the continental project of the Alberto Contador Foundation has experienced one of its best sporting moments: the victory of Italian Matteo Moschetti in the sprint stage with a final in Castrojeriz in 2018.

“In a race where you can anticipate the presence of several WorldTour teams with some of the best cyclists in the world, the idea is very clear,” says Hernández; “you have to compete without any kind of complex, run together, ride in front and be attentive to all the situations of the race in order to make the most of our possibilities. The Vuelta a Burgos is a very special race and not at all easy. The finishes foreseen in the Picón Blanco or in the Lagunas de Neila present a great difficulty and this year there will be a lot of competition”.

Hernández, nevertheless, has clear priorities: “The first thing is, of course, that the circumstances allow the celebration of the race. The fundamental thing is health. The priority. If steps are taken towards this new normality it is because it is possible and the health system supports it. From that point of view, the Vuelta a Burgos is now seen as a kind of promised land”.

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)

? Atila Madrona