Great performance of Sergio Garcia in a day with Russian success and leap forward of Ropero
VIII Vuelta a Valencia
Stage 2: Benagéber-Aras de Olmos (153 km)
The Russian rider Savva Novikov (Lokophinkx), who stood out at the head of the race in the last ascent, climbed to the leadership of the Vuelta a la Provincia de Valencia when he won alone in his second stage, with a finish in Aras de Olmos. A second stage in which Alejandro Ropero finished tenth and climbed to fourth place in the provisional general classification.
The Russian, number 133, began his solo ride during the second pass through Alto del Remedio, the last mountain difficulty of a day much more complex and demanding than it seemed, hardened at first by a persistent rain that later mutated into a sunny day.
A dynamic of constant attacks and counterattacks marked the first kilometers until the constitution of a flight of twenty units where the Cadiz Sergio García, the Balearic Joan Martí Bennassar and the Italian Daniele Cantoni gave presence to the Polartec-Kometa.
The offensives would be prolonged as much in the leading group as in the main squad, in a day of wear and tear and broken race. In that vanguard, very active until his neutralization in the final part, Sergio Garcia. “I’m very happy with the sensations I’ve had and also because I’ve finally seen the best. In the last six kilometers Alejandro and Carlos asked me to shoot and in the last two I stayed,” says Sergio García.
“The truth is that it has been a very hard stage”, adds Alejandro Ropero. “On the profile did not seem so much, but there has been a lot of wear. We thought it was going to be easier. And now to continue, day by day, seeing how the race evolves”, in reference to the time trial that takes place this Saturday.
“The stage has become very hard, with a tremendous deluge of beginning. We have been watched very closely and they haven’t allowed us to make any movement either. The whole stage was between steep slopes. I didn’t have the best sensations and in the end it was a suffering of four hours”, explains Carlos García, who would suffer a fall during the stage and would be able to enter the main group thanks to Jorge Pastor’s praiseworthy work. The Spaniard is eleventh overall, one minute from the leader.
And this Saturday, third stage, in an unusual discipline in the category over this distance, individual time trial of 21 kilometers with start and finish in Llíria. A time trial in which Polartec-Kometa arrives with three of its riders in the top-15 and in second place, 49 seconds from Lizarte, in the general team time trial.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
