Victory and leadership in the Vuelta a Madrid after a sensational time trial by the team

The Vuelta a Madrid started with a team time trial in the town of Valdemorillo as a first test. The race, a major objective for the team, could not have started better. With a time of 11:14, the team managed to win and Gabriele Bessega took the leader’s jersey.

At 19:27 the team set off from the Valdemorillo bullring. They set the best provisional time and none of the following teams could beat it. Despite Tommaso Bessega suffering a puncture and Manuel Sanroma could not follow the pace, five of the riders arrived and took the leadership.

“The team has been very strong, we are here to try to win stages, but we will see what we can do for the overall. My brother and I have had two very good months and we are very happy,” explained Gabriele Bessega, the first leader of the Vuelta a Madrid.

“I’m recovered, I’m lacking race pace, but I’ve helped the team as much as possible and that’s what I’ll try to do during the whole race. We knew that we were going to ride among the best times, but it was a bit complicated with Tommaso’s puncture, even so my team-mates are very strong”, Manuel Sanroma summed up his return to competition.

“The assessment is very positive, although Tommaso had a puncture in the first kilometre and he is very strong on this terrain. The five remaining riders rode very well, giving good relays. When there was one kilometre to go we saw that they could compete for the victory and they gave their best to achieve that result. We started the race with good news”, said Miguel Gómez, director of the U23 team.