Roberts and Rohregger lead German ProTour team in Spain

Led by Luke Roberts and Thomas Rohregger, Team Milram will start for the first time in the Vuelta a Murcia (March 3-7 / UCI 2.1).  Over the approximately 645 kilometers across southeastern Spain, the duo will count on the support of German riders Roger Kluge, Dominik Roels, Dominik Nerz and Björn Schröder, as well as Rohregger's fellow Austrian, Peter Wrolich.

„Right after the Mallorca Challenge, I was unfortunately thrown back by an inner ear infection,“ said climber Thomas Rohregger before flying to the Iberian peninsula.  „But I have been able to train well again and look forward to this challenging race.“   Ralf Grabsch, who is serving as Directeur Sportif in Spain, also looked confidently to the German ProTour team's race debut: „We don't want to put Thomas under any extra pressure after his illness. Luke Roberts is an experienced pro, who can take on the responsibilities. With those two as our leaders, we are well prepared for the coming work.“

The start of the 30th edition of the Vuelta a Murcia is in San Pedro del Pinatar, a small town on the Mediterranean coast.  From there, it goes on a 165.5 km long circuit through the region back to San Pedro del Pinatar.  The climbing specialists will be challenged on the second and third days.  Both the 170 km from Calasparra to Caravaca de la Cruz and the next day's 166.5 km from Las Torres de Cotillas to Alhama de Murcia cover the very challenging terrain in the mountains of Spain's southeast.  The fourth stage is a 22-km long individual time trial, before things end up with a rolling 121 km back to the finish in Murcia.

The Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia, to give it its full name, has been carried out since 1981.  A look at the list of winners of this challenging race shows that it is one for the climbers and stage-race specialists.  The list includes such famous riders as Miguel Indurain (1986), Marco Pantani (1999), Alejandro Valverde (2004, 2007, 2008) and Denis Menchow last year.  No German rider has yet been able to win the race.

Team Milram for the Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia:
Roger Kluge (GER/Eisenhüttenstadt), Dominik Nerz (GER/Wangen), Luke Roberts (AUS/Kerpen), Dominik Roels (GER/Köln), Thomas Rohregger (AUT/Innsbruck), Björn Schröder (GER/Berlin), Peter Wrolich (AUT/Klagenfurt)
Directeur Sportif: Ralf Grabsch (GER)


The Stages:
03.03. 1. Stage: San Pedro del Pinatar - San Pedro del Pinatar (166,5 km)
04.03. 2. Stage: Calasparra - Caravaca de la Cruz (169,8 km)
05.03. 3. Stage: Las Torres de Cotillas - Alhama de Murcia (166,5 km)
06.03. 4. Stage: Alhama de Murcia - Alhama de Murcia (22 km/EZF)
07.03. 5. Stage: Redyser (Murcia) - Murcia (121,1 km)
Total distance: 645,9 km

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