19 Jun 2024

The Vuelta al Besaya in the junior team’s sights

Vuelta al Besaya

From 20th to 23rd of June

In June, some of the most important races of the season for the junior team arrive on the calendar. The Vuelta al Besaya brings together great teams during its four days of competition on a very demanding route. The structure of the Alberto Contador Foundation knows the race very well and has achieved great results in it as well as a streak of three consecutive victories winning in 2018, 2019 and 2020 editions.

Seven cyclists will form the squad that will take part in the race in Cantabria. The Italian Santiago Basso will return to compete with the team as he did in the Volta ao Concelho de Loulé. And next to him, Iker Díaz, Eleazar Jiménez, Iván Loaisa, José Miguel Moreira, Robinson Rincón and Hugo Pradas will fight to get the best results after being at the gates of the victory in the Copa de España in Vitoria.

The route of the race will be very demanding during its four stages and will take the cyclists to climb some of the most famous ascents in Cantabria as well as to visit the towns on the banks of the Besaya River, which gives its name to the race. The first day will start from Los Corrales de Buelna, the epicentre of the race and will finish in the neighbouring San Felices de Buelna after 116 kilometres and the ascent of the Collazo de Cieza (2nd) as the judge of a stage, a priori, without any major difficulties other than the aforementioned pass. The second stage will start and finish in the town of Torrelavega. The well-known Alto de Hijas (3rd), Alto la Hayuela (3rd) and Alto San Cipriano (3rd) will be the climbs to be overcome by the cyclists in a day of 108 kilometres.

The third stage will start and finish in the town of Polanco and there will be two mountain passes during the 112 kilometres of the stage: the Alto de Hijas (3rd) as in the previous stage and the Alto Castrillo Pedroso (2nd). Both will be located far from the finish line. The fourth and last stage will be the shortest of an edition that will stand out for the distance of the stages and the less presence of mountains than in past editions. Starting and finishing in Los Corrales de Buelna and 94 kilometres long, it will be the queen stage. In its last kilometres it will concentrate the ascent to the Alto de Brenes (1st) and the Collazo de Cieza (2nd) that will end up dynamiting the general classification.

“The truth is that I’m in good shape for the objective of the season, I would even say that I’m in the best shape of the season. We have a very strong team with which we are going to fight the race. We are going with clear objectives, the confidence of Isaac and to give everything on the road. I arrive after a very good block of training to prepare myself for this important race, and with very good feelings from the last race to get the pace, with a lot of desire to give everything and above all to enjoy suffering”, explains Eleazar Jiménez before facing one of the races marked in the calendar.

Isaac Canton, director of the junior team, considers the Vuelta al Besaya as one of the great objectives of the season: “It is a beautiful race in terms of route and participation. We are going with a good team to fight for the victory, both partial and overall. The intention is to measure ourselves against the best cyclists at national level. The team is doing great, but we still need to win and we have to correct those mistakes when it comes to finishing. It’s a great race for the team”.

Stage 1: Los Corrales de Buelna – San Felices de Buelna (116km)