Last week Caja Rural finalized their roster for the coming season and the team managers are convinced that they have stronger riders at their disposal in 2014. Despite not having its budget increased by its main sponsor, the team is still hopeful that they will be allowed to ride the Giro d'Italia.

With the demise of Euskaltel, Caja Rural is one of only two professional teams from Spain. While Movistar is one of the real powerhouses of the cycling world, the green-clad team is, however, a smaller professional continental team that has mostly excelled on home soil.

The team has participated in foreign races in the past but the team plans to take its level of international racing to a whole new level in the future. Eager to grow and expand its schedule, the team which has twice participated in the Vuelta a Espana and appears to be almost guaranteed a spot in the Spanish grand tour in 2014, hopes to add the Giro d'Italia to its 2014 race calendar.

Up until last week, the team management was still hopeful that their man sponsor Caja Rural would increase its budget but it has now received confirmation that it won't be the case. Hence, they chose to finalize their roster, with 18 riders making up the 2014 team (Ivan Velasco could become the 19th rider if he makes a full recovery from his Vuelta crash).

While the decision by their backers forced the team to forget about their plans of signing Luis Leon Sanchez and Pablo Urtasun, they are still hopeful that they will have an increased race schedule in 2014.

"We are 8 teams that have applied for 4 spots" manager Jaime Garzon told Marca. "It is not easy but our idea is to do it in the future."

The team has managed to keep some of its main riders. Climbers David Arroyo and Amets Txurruka will stay onboard as will talented sprinter Francesco Lasca. The latter will be supported by trusted load-out man Davide Vigano who arrives from Lampre-Merida while Peio Bilbao (Euskaltel) and Angel Madrazo (Movistar) will add further WorldTour experience. Heiner Parra (4-72 Colombia) and Lluis Mas (Burgos) will step up from the continental level while Fernando Grijalba and Antonio Molina will turn professional in the green colours.

On the other hand, the team has lost Andre Cardoso who will ride for Garmin-Sharp in 2014 while sprinter Manuel Cardoso will also leave the squad. The Portuguese still hasn't found a new team and the same goes for Yelko Gomez, Francisco Moreno, Enzo Moyano and Danail Petrov who will also not be part of the roster in 2014.

"I think we have improved from last year in several areas but I don't like to compare different teams," manager Eugene Goikoetxea told Marca. "Each year is different."

Caja Rural will kick off their season in the Tropicale Amissa Bongo in Gabon in January.