By Antonio J. Salmerón
Antonio Cabello, Andalucia-Cayasur team manager, expressed his happiness today when he officially was notified that his Spanish Pro-Continental squad had received one of four 'wildcards' for the 2007 Vuelta a España. "It has been great news for all of us, because we have been working very hard during all these last few years," Cabello expressed to Cyclingnews. The second Spanish Pro-Continental squad selected was Karpin-Galicia.
Cabello announced, "Luis Pérez will be our leader." The 33 year-old rider debuted 1995 with ONCE, although in the last years has led the Cofidis in the Vuelta a España. He will also count one the very short (1.55m) climber Jorge Ferrío, José Luis Carrasco and 2007 Volta do Alentejo winner Manuel Vázquez.
"I have not still decided who will form the rest of the team, although it is true that we already sent Unipublic [Vuelta's organizer] a list of fourteen riders," Cabello explained. "We have a humble budget but we are very combative. We need to be sure to choose the most capable riders to confront such a demanding race as the Vuelta a España because we aspire to be in the top-ten with Luis Pérez, in addition to obtain a [stage] victory," he concluded.
There was bad news for Relax-GAM. The team, who had reinforced its roster with Oscar Sevilla, Jan Hruska, Santiago Pérez, Francisco Mancebo, Ángel Vicioso and Julián Sánchez, was looked over by Unipublic in its selection process.
