2018 World Championships in Austria
Castrillo (under-23), six ladies -led by García and Jasinska- and six elite men, including Valverde and Quintana, will represent the Telefónica-backed squad at Innsbruck's final races.
Following last Sunday’s sixth place in the men’s team time trial and the 5th place obtained by Nelson Oliveira at Wednesday’s men’s elite ITT, the Movistar Team will bring up to thirteen athletes from its roster to the road races of the 2018 UCI World Championships in Innsbruck (Austria).
Friday (12.10pm) will mark the start of the events for the Blues as Jaime Castrillo joins the Spanish national team for the under-23 race: 180km starting at Kufstein, with some little hills in the initial point-to-point section -including the Gnadenwald climb, also ridden at Wednesday’s elite ITT- plus four ascents to Igls (7.9km at 5.7%), the main climb in the circuit, during the second half of the race. A day later (Saturday 29th, 12.10pm), and over a 156km course with one less Igls climb (three in total), six Blue ladies will take on their final event of the season: Aude Biannic (FRA), Malgorzata Jasinska (POL) and Spaniards Mavi García, Alicia González, Eider Merino and Lorena Llamas.
Finally, on Sunday 30th September (9.40am), the men’s elite event will be raced over 258.5 kilometers, with seven Igls ascents plus an additional climb of the grueling Gramartboden / Höll (2.8km at 11.5%, with maximum gradients of 28%), crested less than 9km from the end. Alejandro Valverde (ESP) and Nairo Quintana (COL) will be the Blues’ main references in a race which will also feature Oliveira (POR), Richard Carapaz (ECU), Eduardo Sepúlveda (ARG) and Winner Anacona (COL).
