Sensational fifth place for Carlos García in the Nationals of Castellón

Spanish Cycling Championships 2018

Route U23: Oropesa del Mar – Culla (161,5 km)

In his first year in the category, Carlos García Pierna from Madrid showed his enormous class on the bike with a fifth place finish in the demanding road race, more than 160 kilometres, more than 3,500 metres of accumulated unevenness, which put the U23 title on the line. A gold that went to the Biscayan Íñigo Elosegui after a vibrant pulse in the last few kilometres with the Malaga-born Carmelo Urbano. The bronze went to the Balearic Biel Pons. García Pierna would be the best runner of the Polartec-Kometa, finishing 3:19 from the winner. 

“The truth is that the race was tough, we made a lot of accumulated unevenness and the whole day was very fast. On the way out, there was a breakaway that took a long time, although the script of how the day would go remained faithful to what was expected. In the second round, Elosegui, Parra and Urbano would leave. I knew they were dangerous, but I couldn’t react in time. The race, meanwhile, was selected. I didn’t have much room to move, I was very marked, until I finally managed to get out of that bunch on a steep slope,” explains Carlos Garcia.

He would then start another great physical display with his signature that has already been admired this season, for example, in the Vuelta a Navarra. Carlos himself says: “I then joined the group with my teammate Sergio Martín, Biel Pons and Jorge Pastor. Later I started from that group and went off alone, managing to catch two other riders interspersed with each other. I passed them and started a comeback to see if I could reach the head of the race, but I was 30 seconds away. And all that accumulated fatigue I ended up paying for in the end, facing the finish line. But you have to be happy with what you have and keep working as you have done up to now”.

José Antonio García (Andalusia), 14th to 4:15, Alejandro Ropero (Andalusia), 17th to 4:24, and Jorge Pastor (Valencia), from Alicante, 22nd to 4:50, were the next riders from Polartec-Kometa U23 to reach the finish line in Culla. “Personally, it was harder than I thought, although I could use the tour. After Mungia I had a few days with fever and I couldn’t work like I usually do. But they’re experiences. And now to think about doing a good Vuelta a Ávila”, comments Ropero.

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)

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