Of good sensations and a couple of falls without consequences in the longest stage of the Giro Baby
42º Giro d´Italia Giovani Under 23
Stage 2: Bagno di Romagna – Pescia (173.6 km)
A new victory for British cycling in the Giro Baby, another day crossed out and closer to the mountains. The ‘pink corsa of the future’ faced its longest stage, a complicated journey from the beginning, due to the location of its kilometre 0 in the climb to a Passo Mandroli that also hosted a large part of the neutralised route, and at the end, due to the appearance of fans and the expression of the tension prior to the volley in a pile that took place in the peloton within the last six kilometres. Matthew Walls won in the sprint of a platoon of about 65 units where were Sergio Garcia (26th) and Jhon Stiven Ramirez (37th). At 8 seconds, consequences of the montonera (big crash), a second platoon crossed the finish line where Edu Perez-Landaluce and Carlos Garcia were shooting. The pink maglia remains on the shoulders of the British Ethan Hayter.
At 2:55 from the winner came Arturo Grávalos, the only one of the riders of the Kometa Cycling Team under23 who was involved in the fall. The riojan, an unconditional smile and optimism, explained: “I was progressing on one side and I caught the full fall. I have some scratches on my back and both knees. But as they say, it’s sheet metal and paint. Nothing serious. Now it’s time to recover and keep thinking about the day to day”. Grávalos was not the only one of the cyclists of the team who went to the ground this Saturday. Carlos Garcia also had a fright, but also without consequences: “After all the tension of the beginning then the stage calmed down a lot. In a village, on an islet, there was a fall and I ate it. But nothing happened to me, just a change of bike”.
Precisely from the beginning, the Spaniard was one of the protagonists of the stage, a race circumstance that beyond the fall gave him a good taste of this third day of competition on Italian soil: “Today we have already climbed the first port of entity, although much has been neutralized. The sensations have been very good. I was able to crown him among the first fifteen after having been raising him quite a lot in front. In the descent there was a very dangerous cut, where there were important people with aspirations for the general as Donovan or Baglioli. I got into that cut, but the Dimension Data ended up knocking it down. Seeing me there makes me very happy.
Rafa Díaz Justo, director of the Kometa Cycling Team U23: “We have managed to save the longest stage of this Giro. With its many inverted commas, and removing occasional moments, it has been a relatively quiet day. The start, however, was quite violent due to the presence of a practically starting port. In the back stretch everything calmed down. Before the refreshment Carlos suffered a fall without consequences. At the end of the stage, regardless of some fans that took place, there was a big fall that caught Arturo. Now comes one of the most difficult stages of this Giro, we continue with our day to day approach”.
No less than five stretches of sterrato await this Sunday the participants of a Giro Baby that has taken off the hat a sort of Strade Bianche for its race. There will be 145.5 kilometres over which this third stage will take place, which will link Sesto Fiorentino with Gaiole in Chianti. The orography already invites to the presence of much fight, given the passage by a very broken terrain, but the last fifty kilometers will center the maximum attentions before the periplo by five sectors, some descending, of roads without asphalt. The Cadiz Sergio García, 76º, starts as the best rider of the team in the general.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
