Eleazar Jiménez 7th in Pola de Lena stays 1 second away from the overall podium
The third stage of the Vuelta a la Montaña Central was a great test for the riders’ legs on the climb to Faya los Lobos (2nd). Eleazar Jiménez finished alongside the race leader, finishing 7th.
The race followed the same script of the first two stages. The teams fighting for the classification of the intermediate sprints controlled the race with an iron fist. Attacks followed one after the other, but none managed to open up a sufficient gap. With 26 kilometres to go, in one of those breakaway attempts, Pablo Leno managed to escape with a rider from the Belgian team. Both managed to open up an advantage over the bunch, but were caught at the foot of the only and decisive climb of the day.
In the first few metres of the climb, the team tried to set a pace to control the race. However, attacks began and two riders went ahead and one more would arrive later in pursuit. Eleazar stayed with the leader of the general classification and reached the top of the climb in a very small group in pursuit of three riders who were the strongest. Despite the relays in that group, the cyclist who would go on to win the stage and become the new race leader got alone to the finish line with a big gap over the chasing duo and Jiménez came in a third group in 7th place. With one stage to go Jiménez is 4th overall, just one second off the Vuelta a la Montaña Central podium. Hector Teruel finished 19th with José Miguel Moreira 20th which helped the team to be the best squad of the day. The Portuguese rider is 12th overall, a few seconds behind the top ten.
Isaac Cantón was once again satisfied with the attitude of his riders who “rode well and at the front of the pack”, although for the team manager “one point was missing with respect to the rivals”.
Eleazar Jiménez was able to defend himself on the climb to La Faya los Lobos and maintain his chances of getting a great result on the general classification:”Eleazar Jiménez was able to defend himself on the climb to La Faya los Lobos and keep his chances in the general classification: “On the circuit there were many attacks and the team did a great job being present in all of them. We knew that the climb was going to be very hard from the bottom and that’s how it was. I couldn’t get on the wheel of Pericas’ when he attacked, but I held on with the leader. We reached the top in a large group and I decided to go all out on the descent to try to close the gap. Five of us got together and we reached the finish line. I was angry because I lost two seconds with them. Tomorrow, with the podium just one second away, we’re going to try with the team to fight for everything”.
