When the Tour de France announced that Caja Rural-Seguros RGA had been awarded the final wildcard spot in this year's race, there were plenty of questions asked in the international media regarding why the squad had been selected over higher-profile Pro Teams.
Fast forward to nine days into the Tour and even if the Spanish squad has yet to pull off a stage win, their presence has been amply justified. Barring the key GC day over the Tourmalet, the riders in green and white have regularly been in the breakaways and with a day in the King of the Mountains competition as a high point.
And if former yellow jersey and stage winner Fernando Gaviria has been more thereabouts than there in the bunch sprints, his 14th and 15th places don't mean he can completely be ruled out, whilst Caja's 16th place in the TTT, ahead of four WorldTour teams, represented a notable debut.
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As sports director José Miguel Fernández pointed out to Cyclingnews before stage 9, the arena Caja Rural are fighting in is much bigger than anything the Pro Team have faced in their roughly 15 years of existence as a pro squad, and that makes for a steep learning curve.
"We've had lots of experience doing the Vuelta, but here everything is three times as big - the race itself, the media, the demands on the team and it's hot too," Fernández said. "You've always got to be on top of everything, making sure we're being seen in the race and fighting for what we can in the breaks, with Gaviria for the sprints too."
As Fernández explains, Caja Rural worked very hard to put in a strong team time trial on the stage 1 opener, as much as a way of proving to themselves that they weren't out of their depth as to get a result. And the same went when it came to getting in a break as soon as possible on stage 2, with Alex Molenaar taking over in the mountains jersey from no less a figure than Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
"The Tour is a daunting experience, but we're in the fight," Fernández said. "Getting that TTT result was a crucial part of it; we wanted to show we were competitive right from the start and to keep fighting in the mountains from there on."
"Those results showed us where we were at, it showed us how we had to keep our feet on the ground but at the same time, how we could keep pushing for results and recognise what was possible."
In that process, the figure of Gaviria, the Tour leader and multiple stage winner back in 2018, has been critical, Fernández said. "He's a rider with a huge amount of experience, and when we make mistakes because this is new to us, he's been able to point them out and put us on the right track. He knows what he's doing, and that keeps us all calm."
The situation hasn't been without its setbacks, either. Caja are already a man down after Molenaar crashed heavily on the run-in to Pau, fracturing a finger and suffering heavy bruising and road rash as a result of his fall on one of the more technical corners.
"It's a real pity, he was obviously in great shape, and he's always been a great guy for the hilly stages, like the ones we've got today [Sunday] and again next week; we're going to miss him a lot," Fernández said.
"It is our first Tour, and it was his first as well, and even more of a pity as he was there trying to help a teammate."
The other setback was not so well-publicised, but Aussie Sebastian Berwick's hopes of a strong GC finish have also all but fallen by the wayside. Still, Fernández remained optimistic that he could improve in the third week and "we'll see what he can do there."
And throughout the first week, Caja Rural have not been afraid, despite the novelty of it all of going on the attack as and when they can. After Molenaar on stage 2, former Spanish TT National Champion Abel Balderstone, riding on home soil in Catalunya, was in a breakaway on stage 3 through the Pyrenees, followed by Molenaar and Joel Nicolau on stage 4 and Jakub Otruba on stages 6 and 7 as the Tour headed northwards.
The Holy Grail, though, would be a stage win and Fernández eyes visibly light up when he's asked if he would sign on the dotted line for that result here and now. "That would be something we'd grab with both hands," he says with a grin, "no doubt about that."
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