This week, Caja Rural - Seguros RGA takes on the Spanish and Portuguese championships in pursuit of national glory.

Here are the lineups:
 
Spain
(Thursday, 23rd of June) Individual Time Trial: Lluis Mas, Héctor Sáez, Diego Rubio and Ángel Madrazo.

(Saturday, 25th of June) Road Race: Sergio Pardilla, David Arroyo, Eduard Prades, Jaime Rosón, Héctor Sáez, Diego Rubio, Lluis Mas, Miguel Angel Benito, Pello Bilbao, Jonathan Lastra, Carlos Barbero, Javier Aramendia and Ángel Madrazo.
 
Portugal
(Friday, 24th of June) Individual Time Trial: José Gonçalves.

(Sunday, 26th of June) Road Race: José Gonçalves, Domingos Gonçalves and Ricardo Vilela.
 
The road race at the Spanish national championships takes place, in Alicante, on a very undulating 32.4 km long circuit, which the riders will have to do six times, climbing 3560 meters in total. In Portugal, 11 laps of 16.1 km await the peloton in Braga.
 
Sports director said Josemi Fernández: 

“For the Spanish time trial, our best pick is Lluis Mas who did very well in Route du Sud last week. If he can make top5, it will be a good result. The road race will be very hard this year but we have a strong team with especially Prades, Pardilla and Arroyo who all are in good shape right now. This time, it’s not just us against Movistar. Landa, Purito and Contador are also here. It will be interesting to see how this will influence the race”.

Successful surgery for Molina

After crashing out of Route de Sud, breaking his left collarbone, Antonio Molina had successful surgery at the San Miguel de Pamplona hospital. The young Spanish rider went down in the feed zone on stage 4 of the French stage race. He will now have to sit out the Spanish national championships, waiting for his return to competition later this season.

He said: 

“It’s a sad situation. I had prepared very well for Route de Sud, especially that stage [the queen stage of the race with a hard mountain top finish] where I crashed. I spent 40 days in Sierra Nevada, simulating training for this stage. Not being able to show it really hurts. On Sunday, I’ll go back to Sierra Nevada for another altitude training camp. I’m very grateful for all the support I’ve been getting from the team and the fans. I hope to be back soon, taking on the second part of the season”.