“I wish I could have competed in a test like this in Spain”
MADRID, 18 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Former cyclist Joane Somarriba believes that La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es will be “very nice” and “complete” as it will have team time trials, mountain stages and other ‘leg-breakers’ and she regretted not having been able to race, in her stage as a professional, a test like this in Spain and having tried to add it to his great record.
“If La Vuelta had existed in my time, my dream as a cyclist would have been to win the three national rounds: Italy, France and Spain. I really enjoyed last year’s edition and for 2024 I am very excited because it is going to be a very beautiful, very balanced,” he said in statements provided by La Vuelta.
In this sense, he expressed his wish to have been able to dispute it. “I wish I had been able to compete in a test like this in Spain: with its team time trial, with high finishes like Fuerte Rapitán, with high mountain stages like the one on the last day in Madrid,” he noted.
Also consider that there will be “great teams” in contention. “In 2023, SD Worx dominated; now there are blocks like Lidl-Trek that have extraordinary cyclists capable of challenging the triumphs of Demi Vollering and company. Let’s enjoy it,” he said.
Joane Somarriba, winner of three editions of the women’s Tour de France in her day, will live very closely with the Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi, the team for which she is an ambassador, this Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es.
A Vuelta that, in its day, did not exist. “Women’s cycling has always been in a secondary place. We were going to compete and it didn’t matter what position we achieved. I was particularly hurt by what happened when I finished 4th with the Spanish National Team in the 1996 Giro d’Italia. I returned home excited, because “It was a total success for a ‘little girl’ who had overcome an injury and had prepared with a lot of devotion and no one had found out,” she recalled about her beginnings.
“I couldn’t even count on a minimum to buy a tubular if I had a flat tire. It was hard and frustrating. I didn’t even think about getting a good salary: only about being able to dedicate myself to what I loved. Luckily, in my generation we were very stubborn and very fighters “And I was very lucky that they called me to be a professional in Italy after that fourth place in the Giro,” he added.
Today he believes the bottleneck is “much less tight” than before. “It is still difficult to become a professional cyclist, but everything has changed for the better. Visibility is the key, because everything that is not seen or heard falls into oblivion. The level of resources that female riders currently enjoy is tremendous and represents enormous satisfaction for those of us who had to fight so much with much less. They inspire me with a very healthy envy. Women’s cycling is experiencing a golden age,” she said.
“I would have loved to race today. The cyclists should enjoy the current panorama to the fullest; they are lucky, because they have everything at the level of teams, calendar, public, technicians, media… However, I intensely enjoyed my time, and in fact I was privileged for everything I achieved,” she added.
Two victories in the Giro d’Italia and three in the Grande Boucle, the most important stage tour in France at that time, mark a record that also includes a CRI World Championship and three editions of the Emakumeen Bira, the historic Basque round: “It was my motivation to train for years.”
She has returned to cycling with the help of the Laboral Kutxa team of the Euskadi Foundation, in which she acts as an ambassador and sports advisor. “I really enjoy everyday life and pass on my experience,” she explained.
2024-04-18 11:44:51
#nice #Womens #Tour
