Cycling | Back to Spain
The Murcian, survivor of the Spanish golden generation, focuses all the attention of a round that starts this Friday
Alejandro Valverde is the ‘last of the Mohicans’ of the golden generation of Spanish cycling, that of Contador, Freire, Sastre, ‘Purito’ Rodríguez and Samuel Sánchez. The Murcian will start his last Vuelta a España this Friday. He leaves at the age of 42 and with a full track record. In this edition of the round he will meet the new generation, that of Juan Ayuso, 19 years old, and Carlos Rodríguez, 21. Between these two groups, Mikel Landa (32 years old) and Enric Mas (27) have supported the peloton Spanish. The Spaniard has twice been second in the Vuelta and fifth and sixth in the Tour. Alava – twice third in the Giro and twice fourth in the Grande Boucle – was missed in the last edition of the French race. Without him and with Mas defeated by his fears and covid, the best was Luis León Sánchez from Muleño, fourteenth, who will soon be 39 years old. Another ‘mohican’.
Landa enters this Vuelta after being third in the last Giro, only surpassed by Jai Hindley and Richard Carapaz. It is his second podium after the one achieved in 2015, then beaten by Contador and Aru. The ‘pink corsa’ has battered him with falls and illnesses, but it is the one that has given him the most: three stages, two third places and the reign of the mountain. In the Tour he was one second off the podium in 2017 and was fourth again in 2020, after Pogacar, Roglic and Porte. Of the three big ones, the Vuelta is the one that worst fits his profile as a long-distance runner. He won a stage in 2015, in Andorra, and it was because he ignored the orders of his manager at Astana.
Seven podiums and twelve stages
In any case, despite the fact that Landa and Mas are the two great strengths of Spanish cycling in this Vuelta, all the spotlights these days are focused on Alejandro Valverde, already prepared for his particular goodbye to the Spanish round alongside Enric Mas who will try to fight for the general. Valverde’s ‘Last Bullet’ in La Vuelta is served. The Murcian, at 42 years old and in his last year as a professional, will be able to say goodbye to the Spanish fans in a Vuelta that he won in 2009 and where he has made a total of seven final podiums and achieved twelve stage wins.
Thus, the Movistar Team comes with the double trump card of ‘Bala’ and an Enric Mas who starts as the leader after being second in La Vuelta 21. The team chaired by Eusebio Unzué will form, in addition to Valverde and Mas, Carlos Verona, the ciezano José Joaquín Rojas, Nelson Oliveira, Mathias Norsgaard, Gregor Mühlberger and Lluís Mas.
The layout of this Vuelta, made for explosive cyclists, complicates Mas and Landa’s fight for the general classification. In addition, the man from Vitoria drags a psoas injury that is already recurrent. After two months of inactivity he returned in the last Vuelta a Burgos to feel how his legs responded. And he was not up to the best. For this reason, he assumed that he saw the Vuelta podium “far away”. “I plan to fight for some stage,” Landa was honest.
Roglic will defend his kingdom
Meanwhile, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo), recovered from the spectacular fall he suffered in the Tour, yesterday confirmed his presence in the race and will try to add his fourth consecutive crown against other contenders such as Carapaz, Hindley, Almeida, Yates, the aforementioned Enric Mas or Nairo Quintana.
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