Maté racing to plant 'a Vuelta forest' at the Vuelta a España

Luis Angel Maté spent the day in the break during a miserable opening stage of the Arctic Race of Norway, his 138 kilometres out front lasting until the move was swept up with 25km left of the stage in Mo i Rana.

The Spaniard, riding his second season at Euskaltel-Euskadi, is ramping up the preparation ahead of the Vuelta a España and what will be only his team's second participation in the race.

He'll be looking to make an impact at the upcoming Grand Tour, and not just to show the famous orange jersey, compete for minor prizes, and maybe score Spain's first win there in two years.

As well as all that, the 38-year-old will be racing to repopulate the forests of Los Reales de Sierra Bermeja natural park in southern Andalucía. The natural park, which will host the stage 12 summit finish at Estepona during the Vuelta, has been hit hard by forest fires in recent years.

Maté, who hails from nearby Marbella, has pledged to donate 100 trees to the reforestation project, and will also donate a tree for every kilometre he rides in the breakaway.

"Sierra Bermeja – the last [fire] last year was 30,000 hectares burned," Maté told Cyclingnews at the Arctic Race of Norway. "I think right now this is the moment to act in this time with the climate crisis. I think it's the responsibility of everybody.

"For me it's very important to have something like this. Also in Spain, it's incredible the climate change with the forest fires. And I think we have the best stadium in the world, and it's all our responsibility to care for our home.

"For that, I think about the future generation and just to give them a good future. It's for that reason I do this."

Vuelta organisers Unipublic have also pledged to donate 100 trees to the project, while Euskaltel-Euskadi will do the same. Environmentally conscious Maté, who has said in the past that he only travels by bike (he rode more than 1,000km back home from last year's Vuelta) and buys from small businesses, confirmed those commitments.

"It was terrible, terrible," Maté said of the fires and resulting damage. "And now one year later, it's the moment to start to repopulate. And it's the moment, at the same time with the Vuelta and the stage there, it's a very good opportunity to show it to a lot of people.

"A lot of people, a lot of enterprises, a lot of associations - everybody wants to help, and that's also super important for us."

Maté, who is on Euskaltel's longlist for the Vuelta but is certain to make the final eight-man selection, has raced hundreds of kilometres in the breakaway at previous editions of the Vuelta, and it's possible that he'll be responsible for plenty of new trees this autumn.

"I don't know," Maté laughed when asked about his breakaway goal. "Other years a lot of kilometres This year also is for sure one of my best motivation to make the breakaways.

"Also the Vuelta and my team puts in the same number of trees as me and a lot of people want to help or buy a tree or come to us to plant. That's amazing.

"I hope that this idea can grow every day and every week of the Vuelta and finally we can do something amazing – a forest, a Vuelta forest."