Alessandro Fancellu finishes sixth in Sangüesa and is now fifth in the general classification of Navarre

58ª Vuelta a Navarra
Stage 2: Pamplona – Sangüesa (132.5 km)

Seventeen riders played the triumph in the Sangüesa goal, where the Belgian Maxim van Gils (Lotto-Soudal) scored the partial and ascended to the leadership of the Navarre round; a small group in which were Alessandro Fancellu and Álex Martín. Both the Italian and the Catalan of the Kometa Cycling Team showed very good legs in the final climb to the Monastery of Leire, which was very selective given its proximity, less than a score of kilometers, all favorable, to the finish line on the main street. “The stage has been very hard in the weather, was the first day of heat, and along the route, with six ports and one of them rampon, “synthesizes director Rafa Diaz Justo.

After some very intense first stages, with several attempts to escape and some moments in which the main pack was split into several smaller groups, three cyclists ended up standing out at the head of the race. His escape would end definitively before the last ascent to Leyre, three kilometres of great exigency in which both Álex Martín and Alessandro Fancellu, from less to more, ended up consolidating in the vanguard of the race. Facing the finish line, Lizarte and Lotto went to great lengths to hunt the ‘caja rural’ Jefferson Cepeda, who rode alone and showed no signs of fatigue.

“The accident the other day was just a scare, a big scare, yes, but in the end nothing serious. It only left me a little discomfort in my knees and neck for a couple of days. I feel well and motivated”, he gives the bronze in the last World Cycling Championships of the junior category, fifth overall at six seconds. Sixteenth finished in Sangüesa Álex Martín. “The climb was very hard, especially in its initial part. And very narrow. It was fundamental to enter well placed. The start was very violent”, explains Vilassar de Mar. The day was not the best for the Riojan Arturo Grávalos, who was ill. Joan Martí Bennassar and Alessio Acco were in charge of filming with him and supporting him.

This Friday the Navarre round faces a very complicated half mountain day between Pamplona and Tafalla, over almost 140 kilometres, with the first hundred of great difficulty due to the chained ascents to Etxauri (km 31.1), Guenbe (km 50), Goñi (km 59.8), Ulzurrun (km 77.3) and Guirguillano (km 103.3).

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)