Combative debut on Copa de España

Junior Copa de España got underway in the town of Don Benito. The team made it’s debut this season and showed the ambition of it’s riders. Iker Díaz rode in a chasing group that was close to reach the head of the race and Óscar Orts was eighth in the bunch sprint behind the six riders who escaped.

From the very first moment, the seven riders of the team were all keen to achieve a good result. Both in the first and in the second climbs of the very hard Magacela, the riders showed their heads in the first positions of the bunch. A breakaway formed at the front after the first climb. This breakaway was caught at the second intermediate sprint of the day. In this sprint, a group of three riders was formed and got a lead of more than 2′ over the main group. During the following kilometres and in one of the counter attacks from the bunch, Iker Díaz stood out along with five other riders and managed to open up a gap. They chased the riders who formed the head of the race, but the bunch finally caught them at the last demanding point of Magacela.

The late attacks of several riders in the last kilometres did not manage to catch the two riders who were leading the race and finally the bunch came together in a sprint from which six riders were highlighted and where Óscar Orts was able to show off his top speed and finished in eighth place.

Isaac Cantón: “At the beginning we were calm with Iker in the breakaway, but once the group caught him in Magacela, we we started to work to try to catch the riders who had gone ahead and launch Óscar. We lost the race at the end, but I think we have a good group. It was a difficult race because of the wind and also because it was the first one, which always generates tension”.