10th place for Samuel Novak on the ‘queen’ stage of Vuelta a Castilla y León

Samuel Novak finished 10th on the final ascent to the Collada de Brañosera after a stage in which the breakaway took 90 kilometers to form. The young Slovak was the best rider of the team at the finish, 1’15” behind the winner.

The stage started with the usual attacks to form the breakaway and the team was very attentive to the different movements from the bunch. Manuel Sanroma and Gerard Cano, who came second on the first climb of the day, were particularly active during the early stages of the day. Despite several attempts, it was not until after 90 kilometers that a breakaway of two riders was formed. The bunch quickly reacted with a counter-attack that included Riccardo Archetti and Samuel Novak. The main group did not give permission and neutralized the group leaving the two riders leading the race. The lead would not get further than 1’45” over a large group that would not allow a new victory from the breakaway.

At the foot of the final climb (8.9km-6.1%) the bunch was again grouped together. It seemed that the final kilometers would decide the winner of the stage and the overall classification. Samuel Novak was the team’s best cyclist at the finish, taking 10th place.

“I was not sure about myself for past weeks because I was struggling with getting back to shape. But day by day I felt better and today I was working a lot from the start. I was in breakaway few times and holding the position in front. The tactic was to hold Pablo Garcia in general, but he didnt feel well. In the last 2km I started to struggle… Positive for me is the performance I got but the result could be better”, analyzed Samuel Novak after a hard stage in Palencia.

“We had high expectations with Pablo’s result two stages earlier. The reality is that Pablo hasn’t been racing for more than a month due to injury and even though he’s fine he’s still a bit short of his best. We tried to make the race hard, but late in the stage Pablo told us that he wasn’t feeling well and in the end Novak was our best man. It’s been a very tough race. We were going to bring a fast man, but Tommaso tested positive for COVID and we couldn’t do it. We have only one day left, which looks like it will come in a sprint, but we’ll keep on fighting”, explained Rafael Díaz Justo, the team manager.

Archive footage (Bidasoa Itzulia / Ziklix)