Runner up last year in the King of the Mountains classification in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, BMC Racing Team’s Amaël Moinard will begin today’s first stage of the WorldTour race in a determined frame of mind.
The Frenchman is one of several riders from the American squad who could play a big part in the Spanish event. “Amaël is really going well," BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Michael Sayers said. "This is one of the hardest stage races around because that part of the Basque country is very mountainous.”
He will line out alongside Yannick Eijssen, Marco Pinotti and Tim Roe, who also helped Cadel Evans to his recent victory in the Criterium International, as well as the Italians Mauro Santambrogio and Ivan Santaromita, Swiss rider Martin Kohler plus the Briton Steve Cummings.
Pinotti is another who could perform strongly. He was sixth in the time trial in the Criterium International, and in 2009 took a stage victory in the Pais Vasco race. The friendly Italian appears to have recovered well from the bad injury he sustained in last year’s Giro d’Italia, and is settling in well into the team.
Cummings has had his own battle with inury, and the race will mark his return to racing after suffering a broken pelvis in the Volta ao Algarve in mid February. He crashed on February 17th when another rider tangled with his handlebars. It was on the third stage of the race which, ironically, was the same stage which he had won the previous year.
While he’s still to get back to the form he had prior to his accident, he believes it’s the right time to get back into action.
“I think I'm at a level now where I can survive the race and do work for the team," he said.
Coming back a month and a half after such a serious injury is a big achievement. He said there was a lot of effort involved in making it back as soon as he has. "I was off the bike for three weeks, and then the first week or so was very painful because the fracture was where I sat on the saddle,” he said.
The six day race begins with a lumpy 153 kilometre stage starting and finishing in Gueñes. It includes summit finishes on days three and four, to Eibar-Arrate and Bera-Ibardin respectively, and concludes on Saturday with a 18.9 kilometre individual time trial in Oñati.
Vuelta al Pais Vasco (UCI WorldTour):
Stage 1, Monday, April 2: Gueñes-Gueñes, 153km
Stage 2, Tuesday, April 3: Gueñes to Vitoria Gastiez, 166km
Stage 3, Wednesday, April 4: Vitoria Gastiez to Eibar Arrate, 164km
Stage 4, Thursday, April 5: Eibar to Bera Ibardin, 151km
Stage 5, Friday, April 6: Bera to Oñati, 183km
Stage 6, Saturday, April 7: Oñati- Oñati, 18.9km (ITT)