The Region of Murcia and the premiere in the Clásica de Almería, the following races for the Kometa-Xstra
40th Vuelta a Murcia | 33rd Clásica de Almeria
From 14 to 15 February | 16 February
The season has taken on a cruising speed and the competitive commitments of the Kometa Xstra Cycling Team are uninterrupted. The continental team of the Alberto Contador Foundation will race from Friday to Saturday in the Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia, while on Sunday they will travel to Almeria to compete in the Clásica de Almería for the first time in the three years of the team’s existence.
From the Vuelta a Murcia they continue working with intensity to increase the number of stages of a race that came to be disputed on five fractions not many years ago. With a view to 2020, however, the team led by Francisco Alfonso Guzmán is still celebrating two stages in line in which the climb will be of capital importance in the resolution of the race.
On Saturday’s menu, a stage with a slope finish and three previous mountain passes (Cabezo de Plata, km 24.7; Sierra de la Pila, km 82.4; Alto de Quipar, km 139). For Sunday, the already traditional day in which the riders have to manage the roads of the Sierra de Espuña, with the Collado Bermejo (km 117.9) in front. A stage, this last one, that in the last two years has given important impulses led by two local cyclists: Alejandro Valverde and Luis León Sánchez. Juan Pedro López from Seville, who was then enrolled in the Kometa, also wanted to be a protagonist during a stage of similar design in 2019.
Alessandro Fancellu, Erik Fetter, Giacomo Garavaglia, Sergio García, Riccardo Verza, Daniel Viegas and Diego Pablo Sevilla are the seven riders designated by the technical direction of the Kometa-Xstra to compete in the Vuelta a Murcia. For Fancellu, after suffering a fall in the first days of January, it will be the first competition of 2020. The base of the team will be the same for Sunday, when the continental structure will make its debut in the Clásica de Almería: the great novelty will be the entry of the Dane Mathias Larsen. The Copenhagen sprinter replaces Fancellu in the line-up.
The Clásica de Almería is a ‘free verse’ in the Spanish cycling calendar. A decided bet for a one-day race, without complexes when it comes to turning over the art of sprint that over the years has made its own space in the consideration of the great sprinters of the moment. From the organization, in fact, we want to emphasize that the Clásica de Almería is the first of the great one-day events at a European level, the first of a succession of events that continues throughout the spring. The first part of the route, however, presents an ideal terrain for breakaways to take place in the surroundings of Berja and Adra, with the Altos de Aljibe de la Cruz, La Alquería and Fuente de Marbella.
The stages.
Vuelta a Murcia.
14th February: Los Alcázares – Caravaca de la Cruz, 177.6 km.
15 February: Santomera – Murcia, 179.6 km.
Clásica de Almería.
16th February: Roquetas de Mar – Roquetas de Mar, 187.2 km.
(automatic traslation, sorry for mistakes)
