Matteo Fabbro, brilliant eighth place in the rain and cold of O Gran Camiño
The Italian Fabbro led Team Polti Kometa on the complicated day with the finish in Chantada, and managed to hold on in the group of the favourites after the attacks of the winner and new leader Vingegaard (Visma). A top-10 that allows him to aspire to everything in O Gran Camiño.
The second stage of the Galician race was held under harsh weather conditions, with almost constant cold and rain. Paul Double wore the mountains jersey, after his great performance yesterday in the uphill section of the time trial, setting the best time. However, he could not fight to keep it. The broken terrain gave no rest to the riders, with an initial breakaway in which Davide Bais and Andrea Pietrobon were very attentive, getting into a 12 riders group.
The gap reached more than 3 minutes, always looking for a chance but aware of the complicated finish with a double climb to San Pedro de Líncora that broke the race. Earlier, the rain and the cold had taken their toll on the breakaway with Pietrobon dropped and Bais trying to keep his chances, but neutralised in that final loop.
Visma Lease a Bike accelerated the race from the peloton, with Matteo Fabbro ready for the final battle. Despite not being able to follow Vingegaard’s attack, the Italian rider kept the wheel of the rest of the favourites, crowned in a privileged position and sprinted in the finish to be eighth, identical to his position in the general classification.
Matteo Fabbro: “The team wanted us to be at the front of the breakaway, it was achieved with Davide and Pietrobon, and everyone else was helping me, close to me in the bunch. On the last two climbs they put me in a perfect position and then it was a matter of legs. I tried to follow the best, I held with the favourites and I was able to fight for the top-10 in the sprint. I think I can be happy with the result, in my first day of competition really with Team Polti Kometa”.
Jesús Hernández: “It was a really tough day. The guys suffered because of the cold and the rain, at times it was 3 ºC, but we knew how to be protagonists. The team worked well to have two riders in front, which was the idea in case the race broke down to have riders to support Fabbro, his performance was very good and he got that top-10 against great riders. It has a lot of value and it’s up to us to fight to keep it”.
There are still two stages left of O Gran Camiño, full of mountains and with complicated weather forecasts. Tomorrow there will be 173 kilometres between Xinzo de Limia and Ribadavia, including a bonus sprint with 14 kilometres to go to spice up the final part.
