Tour de France

Movistar Team shared their training ride on the second rest day in the Tour with Diego Ballesteros, a disabled rider on his way to completing a handbike route from Madrid to London

During the second rest day of the 2012 Tour de France, Movistar Team was paid a visit by Diego Ballesteros, a handicapped bike rider who is taking the challenge of covering the distance between Madrid and London to promote the Spanish capital city’s Olympic bid for 2010, as well as supporting all disabled people in order to achieve their goals. Ballesteros suffered an injury in his medula in 2010 after being hit by a car while taking part in a ultra-endurance cycle race in the United States. Now, he completes his challenge with a handbike which the Movistar Team riders got to know today, with Alejandro Valverde as the most willing one to know how it feels to get on such bike. “It’s got to be tremendously hard,” explained the Spaniard. “The posture is really uncomfortable and the effort he must be taking should be enormous. What Diego is doing, his overcoming spirit, is so admirable.”

After meeting the team’s components and receiving the Retto Prize to Overcoming, Ballesteros started stage 13 on his challenge, leading him to Roquefort, after being escorted in the opening kilometers by Valverde, Cobo, Costa, Kiryienka, Karpets and Plaza, who accompanied him before a soft training ride preceeding the Pirenaic duo of stages on Wednesday and Thursday.