The forest green jerseys of Caja Rural roll down the Barcelona start ramp, cross-merging into line as they race towards the Sagrada Familia, Casa Batlló, and the slopes of Montjuic.This is a home Grand Depart for the second-tier Spanish ProTeam, making their Tour de France debut (a team with the same name raced in the 1987 and 1988 Tours) after a dozen appearances at the Vuelta a España. Known for their development of young Spanish talent, they are the minnows of this year’s race.“For us, it’s incredible,” says sporting director Rubén Martínez, who has been with the team since 2008: first as a rider, then as a coach. He is nicknamed ‘Peris’ (a colloquial for a partygoer) due to his trademark goatee.“We are not a team but a family, so to have the Grand Depart in Barcelona is incredible. We’re in another world now. I have no words to describe it.”
Acabamos de tomar la salida del @LeTour #súmatealverde 💚#tdf2026 https://t.co/zjWaZDdX0X pic.twitter.com/fd1ugoa7IP
— Team Caja Rural-RGA (@CajaRural_RGA) July 4, 2026But for all the joy, one member of this family is missing from the Octet Box speeding westwards across the city.Last autumn, aged 22, Jaume Guardeño finished 14th at the Vuelta, an outstanding result for the young rider — the latest off Caja’s production line. Raised in Caldes de Montbui, just north of Barcelona, he is arguably the peloton’s premier emerging Catalan climbing talent.In 2026, ahead of a likely debut at a Tour starting in his home city, Guardeño finished as the third-best young rider in his home race, the Volta a Catalunya, which famously concludes on Montjuic. Two days after the race, on March 31, he went for a training ride in his home hills with his 15-year-old brother. It was an easy outing, one to keep the legs spinning, with descents taken slowly.On one downhill, Guardeño accidentally clipped a loose stone in the road. His brother would later say that he did not know if Jaume had seen it. The rider kept his balance, but the impact sent him swaying across the road — where he hit a car traveling uphill in the opposite direction.He was immediately taken by air ambulance to the Parc Taulí Hospital in Sabadell, where he remained in intensive care for over six weeks after suffering a serious brain injury. Moved to the Guttmann Clinic in Barcelona in mid-May, who specializes in neurological rehabilitation, his long-term prognosis remains uncertain.One day before the race start, the entire squad and coaching staff went to visit Guardeño at the Guttmann Clinic, spending time with their absent team-mate. Caja Rural are a young team; many grew up alongside Guardeño. On their debut tour, they are riding for something more than results.
