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Euskaltel: 'Better than last year'

Published: Jun. 23, 2008
Zubeldia hopes to stay close in the time trials
Zubeldia hopes to stay close in the time trials
Photo: File Photo

The Basque climbers at Euskaltel-Euskadi will be angling toward the podium this year.

Haimar Zubeldia and Mikel Astarloza, fifth and ninth in last year’s Tour, headline the orange-clad Basques in its collective effort to improve on the team’s steady 2007 performance.

“I think we’re going with a very strong block. The Tour is a complicated race, but we’re doing things in a right way and now it’s time to finish off the job,” said team manager Miguel Madariaga. “I don’t want to put a specific goal, but our ambition is to be better than last year. Last year we rode a very good Tour, giving an image of a compact and fighting team that I loved, so that should be what we’re aiming for again this year.”

Zubeldia matched a career-best fifth last year and is hoping he can stay close in the time trials to be a factor on the climbs. That’s essentially the same strategy for Astarloza, who broke through with a top-10 last year.

Joining the leading GC pair will be a strong fleet of stage-hunters, led by Samuel Sánchez, last year’s most aggressive rider Amets Txurruka and Egoi Martínez.

“There’s nothing more I’d love than to win a stage at the Tour,” Sánchez told VeloNews. “I’m not thinking about the overall. A stage victory is more realistic for me. The Tour is my first major goal, then I have the Olympic Games and the world championships. I’d like to strike gold this year.”

Igor Antón, the climbing sensation who won a stage and finished third overall at the Tour de Suisse, will skip the Tour and focus on a run for the podium at the Vuelta a España in September.

Euskaltel-Euskadi for TourHaimar Zubeldia (Sp)
Samuel Sánchez (Sp)
Mikel Astarloza (Sp)
Rubén Pérez (Sp)
Gorka Verdugo (Sp)
Iñaki Isasi (Sp)
Egoi Martínez (Sp)
Amets Txurruka (Sp)
Juanjo Oroz (Sp)