MADRID, 2 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish road cycling team is going to the European Championship, which will take place in the province of Limburg (Belgium) from 11 to 15 September, with a team full of young faces who are not used to major events, led by the young Pau Miquel, who is having a good Vuelta a España with the Kern Pharma Team, and with Raúl García Pierna (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) as the only representative in the time trial.
Ahead of the European Championship in Belgium, the national coach, Pascual Momparler, is taking eight cyclists with him to represent Spain in the road race: Raúl García Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Jon Aberasturi (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Xabier Berasategui (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Fernando Barceló (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Pau Miquel (Kern Pharma), Antonio Soto (Kern Pharma), Kiko Galván (Kern Pharma) and Antonio Angulo (Burgos-BH).
The European road race title will be decided on a 222-kilometre course – with a gradient of 1,200 metres – with cobblestones on the final circuit over Limburg, 32 kilometres long and with two hills (Kolmontberg and Zammelenberg) and two cobblestone sections (Manshoven and Op de Kriezel).
The start will be in Heusden-Zolder and from there they will face an initial stage of around 30 kilometres until they reach the urban circuit through the streets of Hasselt, the capital of the province of Limburg. They will complete three and a half laps of this 14.4 kilometre circuit.
They will then reach the ‘Limburg Circuit’, some 32 kilometres long and with those two small hills and cobblestone areas, which they will do three laps of, before finishing with a short section back to the Hasselt street circuit and a further lap and a half of it before reaching the finish line.
Previously, on Wednesday 11 September, the individual time trial will take place, with Raúl García Pierna as the sole representative. The Madrid-born cyclist, Spanish elite time trial champion in 2022, will defend the national team jersey for the first time as an elite cyclist after finishing sixth in the 2021 European Under-23 Championships and fourth in the 2023 Under-23 World Championships.
The time trial circuit will be 31.1 kilometres long, mostly flat, and will take participants from the starting point of Heusden-Zolder to Hasselt, which will also be the finishing line.