The technical staff of Team LAMPRE-MERIDA has selected the 9 riders who’ll participate in the 2015 edition of the Vuelta a Espana.

These are the names of the 9 riders who’ll be at the start in Puerto Banùs:
– Mattia Cattaneo: 24 years old, Italy, first appearance at the Vuelta, climber rouleur.
– Valerio Conti: 22 years old, Italy, 1 participation in the Vuelta, climber.
– Kristijan Durasek: 28 years old, Croatia, first appearance in the Vuelta, climber
– Tsgabu Grmay Gebremaryam: 23 years old, Ethiopia, first appearance in the Vuelta, climber.
– Ilia Koshevoy: 24 years old, Belarus, first appearance in the Vuelta, climber rouleur.
– Przemyslaw Niemiec: 35 years old, Poland, 4 appearances in the Vuelta, 1 stage victory in the Vuelta, climber.
– Nelson Oliveira: 26 years old, Portugal, 1 appearance in the Vuelta, rouleur.
– Ruben Plaza Molina: 35 years old, Spain, 3 appearances in the Vuelta, climber rouleur.
– Maximiliano Richeze: 32 years old, Argentina, 2 appearances in the Vuelta, sprinter.

The riders from Team LAMPRE-MERIDA will represent 8 different Nations (Argentina, Belarus, Croatia, Ethiopia, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain) and 3 Continents (Africa, Europe and South America). The average age is 27 years.

"It will be fundamental for us to have a good attitude in the approach to each stage of the Vuelta: our task is to battle each day," sports director Orlando Maini explained. "Conti, Grmay and Koshevoy are young and full of energy so they'll be good performers in the attacks and Durasek and Cattaneo will be good resources on the more demanding stages. 

"For what concerns the general classification, we have to do without Rafael Valls, who's facing some health problems, and we'll evaluate the condition of Niemiec, who got involved in a crash while training in the past week: the first mountain stages will be an important test. 

"Oliveira and Plaza are important values for the team, since they have demonstrated their qualities in the grand tours. Richeze will be our captain for the sprints and he'll try to reach the top result he missed two years ago."
The team will be international, with 8 different nations represented: that means we'll have many fans all around the world".