Michele Gazzoli’s sensational sixth place in the final stage of the Vuelta al Comunitat Valenciana

70th Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana
Stage 5: Paterna-Valencia (88.5 km)

The Vuelta a la Comunitat Valencia ended this Sunday with a short and vertiginous stage in which Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Vima) won and after which Ion Izagirre (Astana) was crowned as the overall winner. It was a good day for the sprint in which the Kometa Cycling Team’s main asset was Michele Gazzoli. And Gazzoli, who will turn 20 in April, was the first of the mortals.

Gazzo, eleventh in last year’s finish in his first professional race, signed a notable finish in the streets of Valencia to finish sixth. A sensational result that puts an unbeatable brooch to the participation of the team in the Valencian round. In the previous days, the team had been maturing, with a real objective, an awareness of difficulty, and why not improve the result. This Sunday, all the Madrid formation turned to this objective.

A great work in the last kilometers of his compatriot Stefano Oldani, twenty-second at the finish line, allowed Gazzoli to save the crash that conditioned a massive final finish in which he found himself in the fight against the Dutch Groenwegen, the Norwegian Kristoff, the also Italian Trentin or the Frenchman Bouhanni.

“I’m very happy”, says Gazzoli, continental junior champion in 2017, then the sprint in the streets of Valencia. “Today everything went very well, I was feeling good and my legs responded after these last very demanding days. The team has done a great job for me and Stefano Oldani has left me perfectly positioned to be involved in the finish. I’m really happy and I hope this is just the beginning of a great year”.

The Vuelta al Comunitat Valenciana concludes with the Andalusian Juan Pedro López as the best classified in the overall final. The Lebrija rider finished his first participation in this race among the thirty best riders: 29th, 2:26 from the final winner. The rest of the final classifications were: Stefano Oldani, 72º to 9:13; Michel Ries, 77º, to 10:19; Diego Pablo Sevilla, 137º, to 36:44; Juan Camacho, 139º, to 39:42; Michele Gazzoli, 140, to 40:44; and José Antonio García, in the race of his debut, 148º, to 54:42.

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)