Euskaltel in 2010

Up till now Euskaltel has 23 riders contracted for 2010. Here's an overview:

Stayers (17): Anton, Aramendia, De Lis, Fernandez, Galdos, Hernandez, Isasi, Martinez, Nieve, Oroz, Pérez, Pérez, Sanchez, Txurruka, Urtasun, Velasco and Verdugo

Newbies (6): Jonathan Castroviejo, Daniel Sesma, Miguel Mínguez and Romain Sicard(Orbea), Gorka Izagirre (Contentpolis) and Beñat Intxausti (Fuji)

Insecure (3): Josu Agirre, Jorge Azanza and Andoni Lafuente

Fired (3): Iñigo Landaluze, Markel Irizar and Mikel Astarloza

Sammy in Paris-Tours

Samuel Sanchez will lead the orange Euskaltel squad in the upcoming french race Paris-Tours. He will be assisted by Aitor Galdos, Iñaki Isasi, Ivan Velasco, Markel Irizar, Aitor Hernandez, Jorge Azanza and Javier Aramendia. Last year Samuel Sanchez was the best of the Euskaltel guys on a 28th place.

Rubén Pérez: 'Next year I want to win a stage'

Biciciclismo had a little interview with Rubén Pérez and here is what he said:
-Which has been the best moment of the season?
Definitely the races in Murcia and Castilla y Leon. I saw that winning a stage was possible and it gave me a lot of strength. Sometimes I was in a better shape but then the speed somehow went away.
-On personal level, what do you want to remember and what do you want to forget about 2009?
I will remember a lot of good moments, all the stages where I was satisfied to fulfill my job, even though I didn't get a victory or came in the public spotlights. Those days you are happy because you can do your work every day. I would want to forget the moment when I became ill in April, but that's part of the job.
-What are your intentions for 2010?
Most of all I want to make that extra step and win a race. Next to that I want to keep progressing and keep on racing.

Markel Irizar to Radio Shack?

According to the Diario Vasco and Biciciclismo Markel Irizar will ride for the new Lance Armstrong team, Radio Shack, next year. Of course we all know that Lance Armstrong and Markel Irizar since they both survived testicle cancer (if I'm not mistaken) and that during Markel's recovery Lance sent a message to support him. Of course he will also meet Haimar Zubeldia again because he's following Lance too! In my opinion this could help Markel to improve his time trialling skills even more!

No gloria en el Tour de Vendee

Euskaltel & Koldo Fernandez couldn't repeat the succes they achieved in last year's Tour de Vendee. But at least they gave it all. When at 40 kilometres a group left, the guys did everything to neutralise the group, but it was just too hard to control. Koldo was the best of the bunch and came in on a 16th place, before good sprinters as Feillu and Geslin.

Results
1. Pavel Brutt Katusha 4:38:40
2. Mathieu Ladagnous +0:10
3. Thomas Voeckler +0:10
...
16. Koldo Fernandez +0:21
71. Aitor Galdos +1:17
75. Ivan Velasco +2:01
76. Iñaki Isasi +2:01

Ready for the Vendee!

There aren't much races left for the 2009 season, but today the Tour de Vendee is held in France. For most of us, this seems like a pretty unimportant race, but let's not forget that Koldo Fernandez won there last year and he will definitely try and do that again. This year he will be accompanied by Iñaki Isasi, Aitor Hernández, Aitor Galdos, Jorge Azanza, Javier Aramendía, Andoni Lafuente and Ivan Velasco. A good sprinting team that will be 100 procent behind Koldo!

Sammy to ride the Tour in 2010

Samuel Sanchez has already announced that he will ride the Tour de France next year. Igor Galdeano said 'Now that he finished third and second in the Vuelta, it will be the time for him to try the Tour once again next year. The first part of the season will consist of Paris-Nice, la Vuelta al Pais Vasco and the northern classics and then he will concentrate on both Tour and Vuelta. It's clear that we are a team born for the Tour de France and we will try to give it all".

This year Sammy has three races left to do, Paris - Tours, Giro di Piemonte and the Giro di Lombardia. I hope he can get the victory in that last classic, as I love the race and Samuel came close to the victory before!

SamSan 4th at WC

World Championships are probably the most stressful races of the year. You get a 7 hours broadcast but you know only the last our depends, you know only the last lap really matters, that's when your heartbeat goes up to an impossible rate and you just feel history will be made. That's what happened yesterday and it was incredibly thrilling to see that our favourite Samuel Sanchez was in great shape, the best of the Spaniards I think. He stayed in the wheel of Fabian Cancellara and never let go. At a certain moment it looked like the two would get away but the small bunch of favourites came back. When the final cut was made, Samu had to stay because Rodriguez was already there. That way he couldn't compete for the victory and missed out a great opportunity to become world champion. But at least he rode a great race and I'm sure he will get other opportunities in the futur!

Romain Sicard World Champion!

What we all hoped, came true yesterday! Next year Euskaltel will at least have on World Champion among their men. The French Basque Romain Sicard won the under 23 title in an amazing way, after winning the Tour de l'Avenir only one month ago. In the last twenty kilometres he attacked together with Michel Kreder from The Netherlands but on the last climb of the day Romain was too strong and road solo to the world title. A nice way to enter the prof peloton next year, I would say. Hopefully he can admit to the pace in the prof peloton and show us what he's really worth! Jonathan Castroviejo ended on a good 13th spot, Gorka Izagirre 47th.

4 representatives at the WC!

As you probably all now, this weekend the World Championships are held in the beautiful Suisse city Mendrisio. The time trial has already been won by who else than Fabian Cancellara, but the road race promises to become a more exciting race. Samuel Sanchez will represent Euskaltel and as I see it he will be the second leader of the team, right after Valverde. When the parcours will be hard enough and Valverde, as usual, doesn't get in the right place, it will be up to Samsan to go for the victory, just at the Olympics.

The younger riders will also fight for a World Champions title, that one for boys under 23 years. Here Euskaltel will be presented by Romain Sicard, winner of the Tour de l'Avenir, Jonathan Castroviejo, stage winner in the Tour de l'Avenir, and Gorka Izagirre. This race will be hard to predict but I think our guys definitely have a chance. It would be nice to have a young World Champion in our team!

Intxausti and Izagirre are coming home!

Great news on the transfer front for Euskaltel. Next year our orange troops will be stronger by adding two young and promising guys to it. Gorka Izagirre is a 21-year old guy with a lot of grinta and I'm sure he can evolve to a great one-day racer. The other one you'll probably know already ... Beñat Intxausti. Named one of the most promising Spanish riders, but in my opinion not taken good care of with Saunier Duval/Fuji. I would love to see what he can do with Euskaltel. So we already have Sicard, Izagirre and Intxausti, now I would also like Castroviejo :D

Sicard & Castroviejo in Tour de l'Avenir

Today the Tour de l'Avenir started, probably the most important race for young stage riders in the world. Ar first sight this might not be interesting for us, but Romain Sicard the guy that already has a contract with Euskaltel is competing. And he immediately impressed everyone by getting second in the first stage. It became a sprint with another good french rider Bérard but unfortunately he couldn't beat him. There were also two other interesting riders there cause there are rumours they would join Euskaltel too. Jonathan Castroviejo became 39th, Gorka Izaguirre gave up.

Aitor H. King of he mountains

Finally we got some action from Euskaltel in the Vuelta. In the fifth stage Aitor Hernandez got in the right break and crossed the finish on the only climb of the day and got ten points for the mountains classification out of it, enough to get in the lead in that ranking. Besides that, it looks like the whole team is very motivated to make Sanchez win the Vuelta, Aupa!

Raindrops kept falling on their heads

The fourth Vuelta stage through The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium was coloured by some typical belgian weather. Due to the heavy rainfall, a lot of falls could be seen in the peloton and Egoi Martinez, Iñaki Isasi and Rubén Pérez were all part of a fall. Luckily without any real injuries. At the finish the whole peloton was spread because of a fall in the last two kilometres but no changes in the general rank. Samuel Sanchez came in first on a 25th spot.

Results
1. Andre Greipel COLUMBIA 5:43:05
2. Wouter Weylandt QUICK STEP ST
3. Bert Grabsch COLUMBIA ST
...
25. Samuel Sanchez ST
62. Amets Txurruka ST
74. Igor Anton ST
81. Iñaki Isasi ST
134. Alan Perez ST
135. Aitor Hernandez +4:53
136. Markel Irizar+4:53
137. Egoi Martinez +4:53
175. Ruben Perez +8:09

No balls no glory

We can be short about the performances of Euskaltel in the third stage of the Vuelta, not much. I know these ain't the stages Euskaltel is aiming for, but still a little bit of action would be nice. Iñaki Isasi was the first to cross the finish line on a 27th spot.

Results
1. Greg Henderson COLUMBIA 4:41:01
2. Borut Bozic VACANSOLEIL ST
3. Oscar Freire RABOBANK ST
...
27. Iñaki Isasi ST
60. Markel Irizar ST
70. Rubén Pérez ST
83. Samuel Sanchez ST
123. Igor Anton ST
145. Alan Perez ST
147. Aitor Hernandez ST
157. Amets Txurruka ST