José Antonio García is close to victory in Xátiva

Trofeu Fira d´Agost de Xátiva
Xátiva-Xátiva (140 km)

The Spaniard Jose Antonio Garcia caressed this Friday a new success for the Polartec-Kometa U23 by finishing second in the sprint of the small main group of fifteen units that reached the finish line of the Trofeu Fira d´Agost of Xativa, a race in which he won alone, with 50 seconds of anticipation, the’lizarte’ Ivan Moreno. “It was a shame, it was close. The race has been super hard, but the feelings have been very good,” explains the Andalusian. Joselillo had good legs.

The Valencian event, which was scored for the regional challenge, was even harder due to the very high speed at which its demanding 140 kilometres were covered. The winner, Iván Moreno (Lizarte), achieved his victory at an average speed of just over 40 km/h. An average that comes in a test with four scoring ports, two of them the requirement of Portixol or El Campello.

After a first attempt of seventeen units, the Polartec-Kometa soon found itself represented in the escape of thirteen runners of the day by the hand of Jorge Pastor Terol.  An escape that lasted for a good part of the day with a minute, minute and a little, over the main group. This little group would change its morphology with the passing of the kilometers, staying in a sextet and always with Pastor present until its neutralization.

“We’ve had a crossed day from the beginning,” says director Rafa Díaz Justo. “Daniele Cantoni has suffered several breakdowns, even changing bikes twice, and Wesley has been involved in a crash that has left him riding between groups all day. The incidents have left us with practically two less runners and then Pastor, who was coming from the breakaway, was also very tired. On the way up to El Campello he flew away. There, two riders have left and have practically reached the last twenty kilometres. We had four riders in a group of about twenty-five units, but it was Lizarte who ended up setting the tempo of the race. We worked backwards, but we ended up running out of people, José Antonio was left alone. But he has shown that he is fit and that in a small group he was the fastest”.

The next challenge of the Polartec-Kometa U23 comes in a few days with the hand of the reborn Vuelta Ciclista a Salamanca, which takes place between Thursday 23rd and Sunday 26th August.

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)