By Hernan Alvarez Macias in Madrid
Illes Balears team director Eusebio Unzue is following the World Championships in Madrid. He was present at the UCI annual congress and he spoke with Cyclingnews about the World's. "The two Spanish guys did very well [in yesterday men's time trial]," said Unzue. "I think Ivan [Gutierrez] went for the gold medal and he was close to achieving it. Ruben [Plaza] showed he was in good condition after finishing the Vuelta a España; he was almost on the podium."
About Australia's Michael Rogers, Unzue assured, "He is not World Champion by chance. I think he demonstrated that besides being a great specialist, he is the one of the specialists who knows how to reach the best condition on the exact day of the competition. I think that's one reason for his results."
Unzue was in the warm up sector yesterday at the men's time trial when the Czech Jan Hruska rode the time trial. "I followed him to take references during the course to help Ivan Gutierrez. Then with Hruska's references and seeing the time he had lost, we had 18, 20 reference points," said the Illes Balears director.
About the World's so far, he said, "The Spanish performance was very good. I can speak just about yesterday's time trial. For us [Illes Balears] the silver medal is a great result. For the people in the organization it is also a great result to already get two silver medals [Joane Somarriba took second in Wednesday women's time trial]."
Sunday's road race is the star competition and the eyes of the world will be watching what happens in Madrid. "It's a parcours, let's say, pretty open. Apparently it's a circuit not too selective, so I think there will be people capable of attacking. The reduction of the number of riders per national team will be another reason for the race to be less controlled. Perhaps there is a surprising rider who is in nobody's mind who can win," finished Eusebio Unzue.
