The Polytechnic University of Valencia-Bancaja cycling team, «UPV-Bancaja», closed out their best season yet. In the elite/under-23 category, the team carried off the national runner-up title, second place in the category’s 1st Tour of Spain and first place in the Tour of Ávila, as well as winning the honour of best Spanish team at the prestigious International Tour of Lleida. On a regional level, UPV-Bancaja went home as a double-winner at the Championship of the Autonomous Community of Valencia.
Vicente Peiró and Juan Antonio Segovia became the regional champions in road bicycle racing.
Peiró donned the winner’s jersey with the Valencian flag and its corresponding gold medal
after
outperforming every other cyclist in the Valencian competition by a significant margin.
Following
132 kilometres
and more than three hours uphill and downhill with breakaways and constant changes, this young Valencia native on UPV-Bancaja took away the sweetest triumph of his athletic career.
On the other hand, Juan Antonio Segovia showed his abilities in the under-23 category. The three medal winners battled out the championship in a sprint in the last race. The fastest was the Paterna native, who took away the title, ahead of Pascual Orengo and Vencento Rodrigo from the Saunier Duval team.
UPV-Bancaja also made an impact at the Spanish Championship, where it took home a well-earned second place. David Vitoria became Spain’s runner-up in the elite category, behind Catalan cyclist Oriol Llesuy. Four riders from the UPV-Bancaja team participated in the race, which is exclusively reserved for the 100 top-ranked cyclists in Spain.
Another season milestone was when Álvaro Garcia took the podium, in the elite category, at the 1st Tour of Spain. García won second place in this
123-kilometre
competition, which includes four second-category passes and commenced and finished in the city of Cuenca, while his teammate, David Vitoria, won fourth place overall.
The team also stood out in other prestigious races. At the International Tour of Lleida, UPV-Bancaja took home third place in the team classification, topped only by the all-powerful Rabobank and Palazzago teams, which have a larger infrastructure and boast internationally renowned cyclists. In addition, UPV-Bancaja was the best team at the Tour of Ávila: it was the only team to have two men place in the top ten, just three seconds short of the individual win.
Now that the season is over, the goal is to win the
Challenge, both individually, with Álvaro and Antonio García, and by team. The Toledo and Zamora races are the two most important events in the home straight towards the close of an outstanding season full of success.
This cycling team was born out of the good, close relationship that the Polytechnic University of Valencia and Bancaja enjoy. Both entities are committed to, young, university and junior riders (Elite/Sub 23 team), as well as to the continued presence of alumni or athletes closely related to the university community (Ciclomaster team).
