By Antonio J. Salmerón
The 2008 Karpin-Galicia squad has been presented to the public on Thursday. The press event of the Pro-Continental team was held in the Plaza del Obradoiro, in Santiago de Compostela (La Coruña-Galicia), where the Santiago Apostol Cathedral is located.
Team director Alvaro Pino regretted the loss of the veteran Marcos Serrano, Eladio Jimenez and Isidro Nozal, but was delighted to announce the hiring of Russian Vladimir Isaychev, former Euskaltel-Euskadi rider Ibán Mayoz, former Saunier-Duval rider Alberto Fernandez, as well as the new professionals Alejandro Paleo, Delio Fernandez and Xesús Cobelo. Furthermore, the 2008 roster includes David Abal Diego, Gustavo Cesar Veloso, Gustavo Dominguez Lemos, David Garcia, David Herrero, Serafin Martinez, Ezequiel Mosquera, Juan Francisco Mourón, Carlos Baker, Serafin Rabuñal, Ramon Troncoso and Eduardo Vorganov.
The Karpin-Galicia director stated that his cycling team has begun to consolidate, and that the squad would soon travel to Mallorca and Malaysia with the aim to confirm that consolidation. Pino also pointed at the fifth place reached by the local Ezequiel Mosquera in the 2007 Vuelta a España. "The 2008 season will be difficult, but our aim is to look up and try to overcome the results reached in 2007. The Vuelta a España will be again our main objective," he said.
The team manager, Russian former soccer player Valery Karpín, also gave a short statement in which he called for support of the team, "because we must be united in order to give continuity to Karpin-Galicia". 2006 Tour de France winner, Caisse d'Epargne's Oscar Pereiro, also attended the event.
Check out the team's complete roster in Cyclingnews' 2008 teams database.
