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UCI World Cup #1, Vigo (ESP) 9.5.2006 The first World Cup for both the Team 23 Degrees riders, Junya Nagata (JPN) and Ruben Garcia (ESP), proved to be a very valuable experience. With the objective of qualifying, but knowing that the field would be very full (214 riders and only 80 qualify) the aim was to gradually lift the speed during the training sessions and get under 2m 45secs, the time estimated to be good enough for top 80, based on last year’s results.
In timed training, Ruben recorded 2m 47secs and Junya 2m 43secs, with both making mistakes and confident of finding more time. In the official Semi Final run on Saturday both riders were aiming to qualify for Sunday’s final but missed by a narrow margin. Both recorded 2m 44secs, with Junya 0.4secs ahead of Ruben. The riders missed the cut off by just 1.35secs.
Junya – “There were 4 sections where I missed my lines and lost time. I’m disappointed because I wanted to improve on my earlier timed run, and I feel I was fast enough to qualify. I’m looking forward to the next race in Fort William.”
Ruben – “Of course I’m not happy to qualify, but I’m happy that I was improving on each run and getting faster each time. I had one crash in training but nothing serious. I don’t think it will be long before Junya and I qualify for a final.”
This weekend the team will race in the Lisbon Downtown before training in Spain for a week, ahead of World Cup #2 in Fort William.
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Images are for editorial use only, and must be credited as 23 Degrees Sports/Gary Perkin. |
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