Daniel Viegas, protagonist of the breakaway and winner of the intermediate sprints in the Clásica de Almería
33ª Clásica de Almería
Roquetas de Mar – Roquetas de Mar (187,2 km)
In a calendar, the Spanish, not particularly lavish in one-day races, the Clásica de Almería is a rarity. The event has been on a steady rise since its February run. Always firm in its commitment to a single day of competition. And without any complex about a resolution to the sprint. The Clásica de Almería is an ideal event for fast men. The Dane Mathias Larsen was the fastest in this company within the ranks of the Kometa-Xstra Cycling Team, a team that debuted in the Almeria event. The guy from Copenhagen concluded twenty-third.
But beyond Larsen and all that anonymous, absolutely necessary work of his colleagues, was Daniel Viegas the other great protagonist, if not the most, within the Sunday cycling training in Madrid by land Almeria. The Portuguese managed to catch the break that opened the race in its first half. A quintet that never achieved an advantage superior to the three minutes and a half, such was the marking of the formations with fast men. Viegas made his way with the Spaniards Jon Bou (Fundación Euskadi) and Sergio Román Martín (Caja Rural), his Portuguese compatriot Ricardo Vilela (Burgos-BH) and the Danish Rasmus Quaade (Riwal). The five managed the most complex part of the event orographically. The rider from Faro would even cross first in the special sprints of Las Norias, Adra and Balanegra and would fight to do it also in the one of Berja.
Facing the last 50 kilometres, the escape was history. However, 47 kilometres from the finish line, a huge pile-up took place in the middle of the pack. The incident affected several runners, including Erik Fetter. The Hungarian Kometa-Xstra rider withdrew from the race at that time, with pain in his right arm, especially his wrist. Without further incidents of entity, the race devoured the last kilometers to appear in the King Juan Carlos I de Roquetas Avenue with an intense fight to the sprint to elucidate. The victory would go to the bag, for the second year in a row, of the German Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe). The Teuton beat the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (UAE Emirates) and the Italian Elia Viviani (Cofidis). A Classic of Almeria for the fastest of the bunch.
Daniel Viegas, one of the protagonists of the Clásica de Almería 2020: “It has been a very hard day. The idea of the team was to be present in all the escapes that were formed. The breakaway was a bit late, about 20 kilometres into the race, and when the cut was made I was able to be there. Then we started to take some time. Already more consolidated, my idea was to fight for the mountain or for the intermediate sprints, but this second one was the best for me because in the climbs I had companions in the escape that climb really well, like Bou”.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
? @Clasica_Almeria
