Buendía recovered for Amorebieta

By Antonio J. Salmerón

The 54th edition of the Klásika de Primavera will take place in Amorebieta in the Basque Country on April 13. One of the teams on the start line will be Contentpolis-Murcia, for which Jesus Buendía will make his debut. The Spaniard was unable to ride so far due to a crash, together with his team-mate Eloy Teruel, last January. Buendía injured his adductor muscle. He stated to Cyclingnews that "I will be there [in Amorebieta] with more desire than kilometres because I started training only a little over two weeks ago, after a break of two months."

Buendía believes that, "it is very positive to compete because it will give me a point of reference for future races." His schedule is in the air. "It will depend on the sensations. I would like to reach a good competitive level for the Clásica de Alcobendas[May 10-11 - ed.]". His team-mate Jose Miguel Elias also is targetting races later on.

The teams at the start include ProTour squads Caisse d'Epargne, with Joaquím Rodríguez and Alejandro Valverde, who crossed the finish last year hand in hand; Team CSC with Carlos Sastre and the Schleck brothers Fränk and Andy; Lampre with Damiano Cunego and Spaniards Patxi Vila and Marzio Bruseghin. There also will be Saunier Duval-Scott, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Liquigas and AG2R La Mondiale.

Other professional Continental teams beside Contentpolis-Murcia include Andalucia-Cajasur, Extremadura and Galicia-Karpin, as well as the five Continental outfits, Burgos Monumental, Orbea-Oreka, ULAN (Kazakhstan), Dinatek-Latvia (Latvia) and Katyusha (Russia).

A total of 120 riders will be battling for victory over a distance of 171.6 kilometres, with the traditional three ascents over the Muniketa climb (second category) and the Autzagane (third category). The only change compared to past years is the location of the start and the finish,which was relocated from Gudari Kalea to Nafarroa Kalea. The change causes the last ascent of the Autzagane to be one kilometre longer than last year's 3.5-kilometre climb.