Although the course of the world road race championships could suit Spanish sprinter Fran Ventoso, who is very quick inside the final kilometre of races and also good on uphill finishes, the long season has taken a toll on the rider and he will soon bring his season to a close.
Ventoso has confirmed that he will ride just three more races this year, starting with the Vattenfall Cyclassics this weekend, then the four day Tour de Poitou-Charentes, (August 23 to 26) and, finally, the GP Ouest France WorldTour race on Sunday August 28th.
The reason for the early finish is because he started racing back in January, riding the Tour Down Under. He won stage five to Willunga and finished a fine sixth overall in the race; the Team Movistar rider then had a run of good results over the next few months, netting second in the Trofeo Palma de Mallorca, winning a stage in the Vuelta a Andalucia, finishing eleventh in Milan-Sanremo and picking up two stage victories in the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon.
He was selected for the Giro d’Italia and did twelve stages there, beating Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) to win into Fiuggi Terme. He was also second on the stage to Teramo, being edged out by Mark Cavendish (HTC Highroad).
After a period of recovery, Ventoso competed in the Tour de Suisse and then started the Tour de France. He didn’t reach the same level of form as in the Giro, and had to be content with ninth place on stage eleven and fifteen. He then rode the 1.1 Circuito de Getxo, netting seventh, and helped his squad to team time trial victory in the Vuelta a Burgos.
Although he’d likely be one of the protected Spanish riders if he rode the worlds in Copenhagen, he doesn’t feel he can continue on until the end of September. Instead, he’ll try to ride well in those remaining events, then shut things down for the year.
“After the Tour de France, I’ve been a bit saturated with competition,” he admitted. “I will treat these last three races with a lot of enthusiasm and try to end the season with a good feeling, helping team-mates who are fresher.”
His team-mates for the upcoming three events will be Spanish champion José Joaquín Rojas, Rui Costa, Iván Gutiérrez, Rubén Plaza, Luis Pasamontes, Jesús Herrada and Enrique Sanz.