Davide Piganzoli flies high in the Memorial Valenciaga and comes close to the txapela: the Italian, second in Arrate
51º Memorial Valenciaga
Eibar – Santuario de Arrate (153,5 km)
Italian Davide Piganzoli came close to victory in a Memorial Valenciaga that will be difficult to forget. The Morbegno rider launched an attack 39 kilometres from the finish, on the first climb to Ixua, after a sensational group effort by the Fundación Contador U23 squad. The riders led by Rafa Díaz Justo set a frenetic pace on the approach to the Eibar climb in a journey where they broke up a breakaway of nine riders that reached more than two minutes.
#Valenciaga22. Victoria para Pablo Castrillo (2) en el Santuario de Arrate. @DavidePiganzoli acaba segundo después de una sensacional carrera de Piga con un ataque a 39 km.
📺 @akhonmedia / @helmugacloud: https://t.co/gDOfpD2F7I. #CopaEspanaEliteSub23 #EOLOKOMETACyclingTeam pic.twitter.com/tMksouLQI8— FundContadorTeam (@FundContaTeam) April 10, 2022
An edition of the Valenciaga in the climatological antipodes of 2021, a day of sunshine and pleasant temperatures in which the race was grouped in its early stages and had several offensive attempts in its first half. The first was a solo effort by Jorge Gálvez (Zamora Enamora) from Madrid. The later, that of a quartet (Alejandro Gomiz, from Froiz; Álvaro Carasa, from Rias Baixas; Josep Tomas and Marc Dols, both from Brocar-Ale) on which emerged a group of ten units that faced the approach to the first pass through Ixua with two minutes.
At that point, Rafa Díaz Justo’s boys were hard at work at the front of the main bunch to prepare the next move. Teamwork, anticipation and power. On the ramps of Ixua, with Ramón Fernández emptying himself out and leading the group, Davide Piganzoli started up. There were 39 kilometres to go.
#Valenciaga22. Se peleó, se acarició y faltó poco. Hubiera sido una forma de devolverle a la afición vasca todo su apoyo y su calor. Eskerrik asko benetan!
[📽️ @akhonmedia / @CCEibarres]. #CopaEspanaEliteSub23 #EOLOKOMETACyclingTeam pic.twitter.com/yD0s5evZDt— FundContadorTeam (@FundContaTeam) April 10, 2022
The Italian gradually gained time both on the descent to Ixua and on the climb to San Miguel and its descent. With 20 kilometres to go, his lead was 1’32” and with 8 kilometres to go, 1’24”. It was an unequal battle with a Lizarte team that was working very hard at the back. With five kilometres to go, on the hard part, Pablo Castrillo made his move and ended up catching Piganzoli very close to the start of the descent to the Sanctuary of Arrate.
Davide Piganzoli, second in the Memorial Valenciaga 2022: “It was a very hard race. We decided to attack on the first climb after the great work of our team-mates. We had talked about making this gamble and anticipating what could happen later. I got to the last climb with a nice time cushion, but I had spent a lot of energy, I was getting more and more tired and behind me the Lizarte guys were doing a very, very strong job. In the end Castrillo caught me, he was stronger than me, and I have to congratulate him. Although you always have the bitterness of having seen it close, I’m happy with the performance of all my team-mates. The warmth of the Basque fans was incredible, I’ll never forget it”.
#Valenciaga22. Victoria para Pablo Castrillo (2) en el Santuario de Arrate. @DavidePiganzoli acaba segundo después de una sensacional carrera de Piga con un ataque a 39 km.
📺 @akhonmedia / @helmugacloud: https://t.co/gDOfpD2F7I. #CopaEspanaEliteSub23 #EOLOKOMETACyclingTeam pic.twitter.com/tMksouLQI8— FundContadorTeam (@FundContaTeam) April 10, 2022
[📷 Estel Bofill Xuclá (1, 3, 4)]
