Alejandro Ropero and John Stiven Ramírez, two Polartec-Kometa in the top-ten final of A Coruña

XVII Vuelta a Provincia da Coruña
Stage 3: Cariño-Cariño (125 km)

Sergio Vega (Supermercados Froiz) won the overall final of the Vuelta a la Provincia da Coruña after ‘solo’ winning the last and decisive stage, the day of the three cols and the passage through a Garita de Herbeira that as expected was decisive. Alejandro Ropero from Granada, who started as the second classified in the provisional general classification, finished seventh in the finish line of Cariño and finished the round in a brilliant sixth position, being the best U-23 rider of the race. For Polartec-Kometa U23, the joy was reinforced by the promotion to tenth place of Colombian John Stiven Ramirez, a debutant in the category and in his first race with the team.

A very hard day in which the last mountain was decisive. The Froiz team set an intense rhythm that selected the race a lot and left thirteen units in the lead, among which were Ropero and Stiven. A Linares attack that found a quick response in Vega turned out to be the decisive moment for the resolution of the race. Ropero couldn’t fill that gap, but he found the best of the gregarious in John Stiven. The Colombian set the pace and allowed him to reach the goal with the small group of the leader Antonio Angulo, who entered the finish line 1:16 from the winner.

“I had to at least fight it. And that’s where we’ve been. To a certain extent it’s normal that I missed a little, because they have a lot more experience than me,” says Alejandro Ropero after his great performance in Galicia. “I lack a little rhythm to finalize details. The race was demanding. But I ended up very happy because it was my debut in the category,” says Colombian John Stiven Ramirez.

Rafa Díaz Justo, director: “We’re very happy because of the sensations and because we’ve been at a very good level. We had a very difficult day ahead of us, with a very demanding stage and a last port of great harshness that we could already see in the last Vuelta a España. The rivals were very climbers. But Ropero has been sensational and has left us a sign that in the near future he may be doing many important things. I’m surprised at John, who in his first race with us has made tenth. Today, moreover, he has been very supportive of Alejandro. We were coming to have a nice race and I honestly think it was more than nice. And very good reasons now for the Vuelta a Castellón”.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)