Martí Bennassar exhibits his talents in a time trial where Ropero wears his clothes

VIII Vuelta a Valencia
Stage 3: Llivia-Llivia (20.8 km ITT)

The Russian Savva Novikov (Lokophinkx) retained his first place in the general classification of the Vuelta a Valencia after this Saturday’s time trial, a time trial where the great specialists emerged, with victory for Sebastián Mora and second place for Eloy Teruel. The Balearic Joan Martí Bennassar was the best classified of the members of the Polartec-Kometa, although the Granada Alejandro Ropero set a great performance in this discipline.

Bennasar signed the eighth position, 1:32 of the winner. The Mallorcan, who was returning to the asphalt after a productive summer of presences in the velodromes, was not satisfied at all: “I spent last week with antibiotics because I had an infection in the molars and, well, you can see that I am taking bill in all stages. But in the end this eighth place is not bad right now,” he assesses.

“It’s a good position, especially for the level of the race and because it came from an infection, but Jonny is one of the four or five best specialists in the country. He also had the handicap that came from the first,” says director Rafa Diaz Justo.

Alejandro Ropero for his part, has concluded the time trial in an interesting twelfth place that keeps him among the top five overall. “I was surprised by his time trial”, says Díaz Justo. “Alejandro is an all-rounder, we know it, but to do that position in a stage like this, coming from doing the hardest stage with the best, you face a time trial and you make a good time, not to win but in general lines, because it is something very interesting in the context of fighting for a lap.

The Polartec-Kometa faces the last stage of the Vuelta a Valencia, 123 km with start and finish in Moncada, with Ropero in fifth place in the general classification and Carlos García from Madrid, twenty-fifth in the time trial, in the eighth.  In addition, it remains in the second squad in the overall team. However, he will not be able to count on the participation of José Antonio García, one of the many runners who arrived out of control in the hard stage on Friday.

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)