Italian Alessandro Fancellu triumphs in the Vuelta a León; the Kometa Cycling Team, the best team in the race
XXX Vuelta Ciclista a León
Stage 5: La Bañeza – Sahagún (122 km)
The Italian Alessandro Fancellu, one of the new faces of the under23 team of the Alberto Contador Foundation for this season, confirmed this Saturday his good form moment when he closed his victory in the final general of a Vuelta a León in which he ascended to the leadership after his victory in the Port of Ancares. The Lombard cyclist, bronze medalist in the past world championships of Innsbruck in the junior category, finished in the main pack in a last frenetic stage, faced with a very high average above 48 km/h, in which the Basque Oier Ibarguren (Diputación de León) won. Fancellu also won the generals of the combined, the regularity, the best under23 runner and the best foreigner. The Kometa Cycling Team finished the race as leader of the team classification.
In cycling until you cross the last finish line you can not celebrate anything. And with this maxim the Kometa Cycling Team started to manage on Saturday. “Once again there were going to be two races, one for the stage and the other for the general stage, and there was also the threat of water. Because rain brings danger, it brings falls, it brings breakdowns”, director Rafa Díaz Justo commented in the previous race. The water ended up respecting. Many escape attempts took place in the first ten kilometers. By kilometer 17, a breakaway of fifteen runners had been formed in which the winner of the stage was riding. That little group, which would be losing units throughout the day, would achieve a maximum income of two minutes. The Kometa’s interest in keeping the leak in acceptable margins was joined by several teams seduced by the possibility of reaching the sprint finish line in Sahagún.
Oier Ibarguren would jump out of the break with the pack 15 seconds away, in the last kilometres. The Guipuzcoan would be able to defend a decade of seconds to triumph in the finish. A few seconds later the pack arrived, where an exultant Alessandro Fancellu finally celebrated his victory in the final general classification of the Vuelta Ciclista a León 2019. Fancellu, at 19 years and three months old, becomes the youngest winner of the León race since its creation, improving the records established in the past by Cristian Rodríguez (2015) and by the Dutchman Wouter Poels (2008).
Alessandro Fancellu, winner of the Vuelta a León with 27 seconds over Sergio Néstor Araiz (Lizarte) and 1:05 over the Norwegian Adne Holter (Dare Bikes): “It has been a very fast stage in which at the end a numerous breakaway was formed. We controlled the dangerous numbers and when we saw that there was nobody dangerous in the breakaway we were able to ride more calmly in the control of the rest of the stage. Looking ahead to this race we knew that both Ancares and Andarraso were going to be two very tough stages in which differences could be made. In the Ancares stage we were able to play our cards. After winning there we controlled the remaining two stages very well. The team was spectacular. I owe this victory to all my team-mates, who supported me a lot these last two days”.
The Asturian Eduardo Pérez-Landaluce and the Madrid-born Carlos García rounded off the Kometa’s participation in the León race with a double presence in the top ten: fifth, at 2:35, and ninth, at 3:17, respectively. “The race looked good from the first day in the mountains. With the arrival of the breakaway to Ancares the general was practically decided, so our mission was focused on supporting the team to the maximum to achieve this victory,” says García. “I’m super happy for the whole team. We all did a great job; we showed that we were the best team, having two riders in the top 10 in addition to the winner. All the teammates were incredible and we had a round lap”, says Pérez-Landaluce.
Rafa Diaz Justo, director of the Kometa Cycling Team: “Day very fast, the average already warns you of how the day has been. For thirty kilometres there was some tension with the very numerous leak that had formed until we could control all the numbers. Then we lifted our foot, which made the teams that wanted to race the sprint stage start to work in the pack. For us it has been calmer. We left with a great taste in our mouths. Alessandro was very good, but the team’s work was spectacular. The overall team in a race of this level has a lot of value for that reason”.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
📸 Vuelta a León
