Opening Ceremony From 'Hiroshima Baby' to Today's Sobriety
The most expensive Games Is it profitable to invest 15,500 million?
From Tokyo to Kampala deported The weightlifter who jumped the bubble
María Vicente "Without an audience, I will focus on myself"
It will be the five samurais on the ramps of
Mount Fuji
, attentive to the "danger that always attacks when everything seems calm", as the peasants warn at the beginning of
Akira Kurosawa's
masterpiece
. The sports dance starts at the Games by prolonging the recent battles of the Tour,
the legs of the majority
still
stiff
and with a quintet of Spaniards who on Monday ruminated on the plane on their way to Tokyo on the gray national role in the
Grande Boucle
as an incentive for the vindication.
The only gold of
Samuel Sánchez
in Beijing 2008 is
beginning to be far away
. And the road test for the Spaniards does not seem propitious this time. Captained by
Alejandro Valverde
, in the romantic mission of his fifth Games, those that were on the verge of not being for the pause of the pandemic. He presents himself as captain of the national team with 41 compliments and "you have to let him enjoy himself", because that way, maybe ... "It would be a feat. But Alejandro is old, he has won many things and he still rides a bicycle because it is his passion. because he is in love with his sport ",
Pascual Momparler
advances
to this newspaper, diverting attention to the Murcian. "You have to let him run at his own pace, enter the race and have a good time.The time to demand Valverde is over. "
But the Bullet sharpens the fang.
"This is like a gift," he confessed yesterday to journalists from the Olympic Village, drawing the race in his mind.
"I prefer heat to cold and rain, but
humidity can be decisive
. A cut ahead would be his thing. And it will not be necessary to attack, it will be an elimination race," he warned.
"Get their blood out"
This time, it is about diverting attention. It is the tactic of Spain. Because it is not the time to build muscle, rather to surprise. It is clear to the coach, who for that he chose a group of hunters instead of a selection that works for a leader. "Five lonely wolves. Exactly. Runners who know how to take advantage of the rest in the break, who will not hurt to draw their blood to achieve their goal," he confesses.
The Izagirre brothers, Jesús Herrada and Omar Fraile
to accompany the 'Bala'. A list started with the controversy of the exclusion of
Pello Bilbao
(13th in the Giro and ninth in the Tour), with the absence due to injury of
Mikel Landa
and with a memory of success. "Less Gorka, who has always been with Alejandro to death, is the team that won gold in Innsbruck [Valverde, Enric Mas, Ion Izagirre, Jesús Herrada, Mikel Nieve, David de la Cruz, Jonathan Castroviejo and Omar Fraile, who entered by Landa] in 2018. It's a pineapple and it's a pleasure, "recalls Momparler.
Because the spotlights avoid the Spanish. On
Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic, Richard Carapaz or Wout van Aert
will alight. And the absences also shine (
Julian laphilippe, Egan Bernal, Peter Sagan
or
Mathieu van der Poel
, who will try it in the MTB test). That is why Spain must be on the lookout, attentive to the "ambushes" that will already be launched on the ascent to Mount Fuji -the second of a 234-kilometer route, with almost 5,000 accumulated unevenness-, even more later, on the wall that He will decide everything before the finish line, after a 20-kilometer descent, at the Fuji racetrack. "The
Mikuni Pass
[6.8 kilometers at 10% on average] is going to be where it breaks.
Those who are ahead at that time, who may or may not be the favorites ... It will be rare for the whole squad to arrive there, "predicts the Spanish coach.
Mount Fuji, with its 3,776 meters, from Lake Yamanaka.AFP
For this reason, yesterday Thursday, the Spanish quintet of lone wolves inspected Mikuni and today Friday she will return to Mount Fuji. Expect heat and humidity and maybe even rain. "The route is long, but it does not have the harshness of an alpine stage. Nobody expects a one-hour climb. I compare it to a stage of the Tour of the Basque Country with a hard pass. The pure climber here, bad it has it ", analyzes Momparler, who senses it more for" runners of strength and power who pass the mountain well ", like those that Spain brings to Tokyo. "Mikuni is a very hard port, with a rough road. I would not say like the Mortirolo, because that is longer, but it is similar", compares
Ion Izagirre
.
So the responsibility, for others.
"Belgium and Slovenia are the ones who have to set the pace. No one is going to want to help them, because at the end of the race they have one more point than the rest. We are going to have to play other things. And don't get caught in a resignation", concludes Momparler, who warns of covered as
Rigoberto Urán
[silver in London 2012] or
Bauke Mollema
.
"Someone with good legs is going to be left behind for not taking the good cut."
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