Murcia, Fortunato is already brilliant
Vuelta a Murcia
Fortuna-Cartagena (188km)
The Spanish calendar returned with a Vuelta a Murcia that this year became a classic. And as a one-day race it was faced by the strongest teams, going from a very gentle pace in the first kilometres to madness on the climb to Collado Bermejo.
The main group broke up on that climb, and especially on the vertiginous descent. At the front were Lorenzo Fortunato, who made an exceptional debut, Vincenzo Albanese, who came close to finishing in the same group of favourites, and Francesco Gavazzi, who suffered a small fall without consequences. It was the ascent of the Cedacero that finally selected the race and put Fortu in a position to contest the race.
In the top-15, with excellent prospects for the coming calendar, Lorenzo has shown his willingness to compete to the maximum in these competitions and seek to improve his fitness with the support of an EOLO Kometa that confirms its excellent average level and ambition to grow and achieve great results.
Jesús Hernández: “The breakaway was fought at the start with Mark Christian, although in the end only two Euskaltel riders took off. The majority of UAE Team in all the race situations allowed them to dominate, while we had up to five riders in the front group, once the race was selected. I think that’s something to appreciate. Fortunato has been very good, probably better than we could have expected. He opened the season in style. Albanese had a bit of a hard time on the climbs although he was close to the finish line in the same group as Lorenzo, but the attitude in general with Gavazzi, with Maestri and Mark Christian was really good”.
The Spanish tour continues tomorrow with the foreseeable sprint of the Clásica de Almería, a new opportunity to dispute the places of honour with a strong bunch.
Tour of Antalya, 3rd stage
Aspendos-Termessos (110,6 km)
A stage immersed in history. With the departure from Aspendos, where there is one of the best preserved Roman theaters in the world, and the arrival at the top of the Termessos climb, which Alexander the Great tried to conquer without success in 333 B.C.. A stage immersed in beauty, with the Taurus mountains still covered in snow overlooking the blue Mediterranean Sea. A stage that gave to the Tour of Antalya a new protagonist (Jacob Hidsgaul of UnoX) who ruled the small group of riders able to resist on the last climb. Among them, also our Davide Bais and Samuele Rivi: very good at resisting until few meters from the finish line.
Tomorrow, the last stage (Antalya-Antalya) with probable sprint arrival and last chance for our Lonardi.
Davide Bais: “We took the final climb well and my teammates helped me a lot to take it in front, for this I have to thank them. It’s a shame that in the last 200 meters we didn’t have that extra strength to try to win it. This is all experience that will be useful for the next races: I felt good on the climb, maybe I was a bit afraid to risk and I was on the wheel, but the feelings compared to last year are really better. We hope to win tomorrow with Lonardi”.
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