VUELTA A ESPAÑA GALLERY

The final Grand Tour of the season, the Vuelta a España has now drawn to a close finishing in Santiago de Compostela with its spectacular cathedral as a backdrop.

Israel Start-Up Nation rounded out the three week adventure through Spain with their heads held high, despite suffering endless bouts of bad luck and countless crashes that saw five of their riders abandon the race. Although luck was not on their side, the moral and motivation to keep trying never deterred, leaving the final three men battling to the very last metres.

Team Sports Director, Zak Dempster shared:

“Obviously it was a challenging Vuelta for the boys and the team in general. We finished with just three soldiers as we were unlucky throughout the three weeks with repeated crashes. At the same time, it was a great chance for a lot of the team and then Sebastian (Berwick), Guy (Niv) and James (Piccoli) in the final phase of the race to really have a free card and take their opportunities when they could. Also, just getting through. It’s a special thing to finish a Grand Tour and especially for Seb as it was his first one. For Guy, it was possibly his best Grand Tour performance yet and James has really stepped up from last year. At the end of the day, the fact that they were able to do that and tough it out through less than ideal circumstances, all in all – it was a great achievement. They should all be proud of themselves for fighting through it.

As always, we went into the race aiming for stage results and GC hopes, but what happened, happened and now we just need to keep looking and moving forward from here.”

Take a look at our La Vuelta gallery, showcasing Israel Start Up Nation’s 21 days of racing across some of Spain’s most challenging, yet stunning terrain.

Photography by Noa Arnon

STAGE 1 – ITTBURGOS > BURGOS