After a rest period to recover energies before the second part of the season, Hermida travelled last Friday to Switzerland to take part in the Swiss Bike Trophy held in Bern and to test his form, that must go in progression towards the goals to achieve in the second part of the year.

Jose has been riding a lot of hours in the last two weeks, but he feels the lack of punch needed to fight for the victory in top level races. The second man in the UCI ranking has suffered a lot and has given it all to make a good quality training session.

“I have been up in front in the first part of the race, but with two laps to go, I have gone through a small crisis. I have no racing pace and I cannot push myself during two hours of competition. I have tried to stay with the second group, but I have paid the effort. Many riders are in much better form, having raced in the last weeks. This makes the difference”, explains Hermida. To that physical state, we have to add some mechanical problems with his chain. This has led Jose to lose much more time than expected.

The following race will be in two weeks time in Israel, where the European Championships will be held. Jose will travel on the 5th of July to fight for a championship he has won 3 times in the Elite category. He is the current silver medallist in the Continental Championships, after being second in 2009, just behind his Multivan-Merida team mate Ralph Näf.