This Tuesday, the race organizers of Vuelta a España handed out four wildcards for this year’s edition of the Spanish grand tour. Once again, Caja Rural - Seguros RGAwas amongst the invited few. After 17 victories last season, the team has had another great start to the 2016-campaign with six wins so far, including the overall victory in Tour of Turkey and Vuelta a Asturias.
 
Team manager Juan Manuel Hernández said: “We are very grateful to Unipublic [race organizers] for the confidence they show in us. This will be our fifth Vuelta a España, the most important race for the team and for our sponsors. After a good race last year, winning the mountain jersey, this time, the main goal will be to win a stage and always try to fight in front”.
 
One of this season’s revelations is Caja Rural - Seguros RGA’s Hugh Carthy, who hopes to make his grand tour debut in Vuelta a España this year. In March, the 21-year-old Briton finished ninth in the World Tour stage race Volta a Catalunya. This week, Carthy took the overall win in Vuelta a Asturias after winning the queen stage of the race. 
 
Juan Manuel Hernández said: “One of this team’s key assets is the work we do with our young riders. Some comes from our feeder team but we also bet on young foreign riders as we did with Hugh in 2014. From the first time we met him, he showed us how serious and dedicated he was. He could have stayed in the UK but he wanted to fit into the team as quickly as possible and therefore, he moved to Spain to learn the language right away. It showed us how eager he was to be a cyclist and it says a lot about his personality. He has a huge potential but he’s very young and we shouldn’t put too much pressure on him. He still needs a few more years to evolve and grow as a rider”.
 
The next race for Carthy and Caja Rural - Seguros RGA is Vuelta Ciclista Comunidad de Madrid, which takes place this week from the 7th-8th of May.