Spanish Worlds team announced
Today, Spanish national coach José Luis de Santos announced the Spanish team for the UCI Road World Championships, in Geelong and Melbourne, Australia from 29 September to 3 October. Oscar Freire will
lead the nine-rider team which includes his Rabobank supporter Juan Manuel Garate, as well as leading Spanish cyclists from six other professional teams.
“It’s all going in the right direction, [Freire] is assimilating the work he did at the Vuelta and I’m happy with how things are going,” said de Santos.
The team includes two top-10 finishers from the Tour de France and several other top race winner of the season. Olympic champion Samuel Sánchez finished in fourth overall and Joaquim Rodriguez finished
in eighth. Rodriguez is currently in fifth overall in the Vuelta a Espana and second overall in the UCI World Rankings, and will be aiming to beat his third-place finish last year in the World Championships. Haimer Zubeldia won the Tour de l’Ain and Francisco
José Ventoso won the recent Paris-Brussels Classic.
“Most of them have been at the Vuelta, and the others have done well elsewhere,” said de Santos. “Samuel Sánchez and Zubeldia rode well at the two Canadian classics and Ventoso is a rider who did a sensational
Paris-Brussels.”
Carlos Barredo is one of the leaders in the Vuelta, with a win in stage 15. Spanish national time-trial champion Luis Leon Sanchez is also riding for the team supported by his Caisse d’Epargne teammate
Imanol Erviti, as well as competing in the time-trial competition with another current teammate Ruben Plaza.
“Yesterday Ruben didn’t do a great time trial due to physical problems, but there is still time and I am sure he will do a good job at the Worlds,” said de Santos.
Team leader Freire dropped out of the Vuelta a Espana before the two major mountain stages, which are not the ideal training ground for the World Championships, which are much more akin to one-day classics.
The Vuelta is a standard build-up for the Worlds, but Freire thought the mountains would do him more harm than good. The Spanish team leader is one of only four cyclists to have won the Championships three times, as is Eddy Merckx, and is considering the possibility
of setting a new record of four.
“I think there’s a good chance,” said Freire. “To have the opportunity to be the fourth time a world champion is also nice. To have the chance is very nice.”
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