Movistar has chosen its eight-man roster for the inaugural Tour of Beijing, which is set to start one Wednesday, October 5th at the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in the Chinese capital. The Spanish team will be led by Basque climber Beñat Intxausti and all rounder Pablo Lastras, who won a stage of the recent Vuelta a España and wore the red jersey for a day.
“We have a good squad and will surely be protagonists into the race,” said Movistar manager Eusebio Unzué. “We have riders such as Pablo Lastras, Jesús Herrada and Sergio Pardilla, who are doing well at the end of the season, plus Ángel Madrazo and Enrique Sanz, who are fast enough to contest the stage victories.”
Pardilla is no stranger to racing in Asia, having won the Tour of Japan while riding for Carmiooro-A Style; the 27-year-old from Membrilla in the Ciudad Real province will be hoping to put a disappointing Vuelta behind him, where he was one of five members of the Movistar team forced to abandon with food poisoning.
“We are really willing to compete in China,” said Unzué. “This is one of very few countries we have never raced in, and I think this is important for cycling to build up a way into new markets.”
Herrada and Lastras are the only two riders in the eight-man line up to have represented Spain in the recent World championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, with the former riding the time trial and the latter the road race.
Movistar team for the Tour of Beijing:
Jesús Herrada Beñat Intxausti, Javier Iriarte, Pablo Lastras, Ángel Madrazo, Sergio Pardilla, Ruben Plaza and Enrique Sanz