Race roadmap - 2018 Vuelta a Aragón (2.1)
Friday Stage One: TERUEL – CASPE (180 km)
May 12 Stage Two: Huesca – Zaragoza (194 km)
May 13 Stage Three: Sabiñanigo – Cerler (126,6km)
Reigning Tour du Rwanda champion Joseph Areruya will this Friday lead a seven-man roster of his new French side Delko Marseille Provence KTM to the 43rd Vuelta a Aragón in Spain.
Vuelta a Aragón is an annual 2.1 category UCI Europe Tour race held in Spain and was first staged in 1939. However, the annual cycling event suffered managerial difficulties in 2005 and was not held ever since. It will be returning for the first time after a 13-year hiatus.
The stage-race type three-day event will attract a total of 21 professional teams from across Europe, including Movistar, Direct Energie and Areruya’s Delko Marseille Provence KTM.
This will be the second race for the reigning La Tropicale Amissa Bongo champion Areruya since signing for the French club in March from South African side Dimension Data for Qhubeka’s continental team.
In his first race, Areruya participated in the 2018 Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour, a 2.2 UCI Europe Tour race and finished in the 68th position on the general classification and 24th on the youth classification respectively.
On the team roster released by his club, Areruya will lead a seven-man team that is also comprised of Lucas de Rossi, Delio Fernández Cruz, Brenton Jones, Angel Madrazo, Javi Moreno and Gatis Smukulis.
The three-day event will have three stages with the first stage on Friday (tomorrow) flagging off from Teruel to Caspe covering a total 180km distance. Stage 2, on Saturday, will start from Huesca to Zaragoza on a 194km distance while the final stage will set off from sabiñanigo and end at Cerler with riders racing to a distance of 126.6km.
Full 21-team list for the race
Inteja Dominican Cycling Team, Team UKYO, Euskadi – Murias, Burgos-BH, Caja Rural - Seguros RGA, Movistar Team, Polartec-Kometa, Fundación Euskadi, Liberty Seguros – Carglass, Manzana Postobon, Israel Cycling Academy, Direct Energie, Gazprom-RusVelo.
Others are; Vital Concept Cycling Club, Delko Marseille Provence KTM, Team Novo Nordisk, Androni - Sidermec – Bottecchia, Coldeportes Zenu Sello Rojo, Interpro Stradalli Cycling, Lokosphinx and Sporting Clube de Portugal/Tavira.
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