In Bermillo de Sayago Antonio González takes eighth place and Javi Serrano retains his yellow jersey
Vuelta Ciclista a Zamora
Stage 3: Fermoselle – Bermillo de Sayago (139 km)
A large breakaway, sixteen riders including Antonio González from Soria, took more than six minutes of advantage over the peloton. And on this fact was based the great argument of the third day of the Zamora round: a very comfortable advantage that made Javier Chacón (Brocar-Ale), the best classified of the breakaway, the leader.
The work of several teams in the last 50 kilometres, including the U23 structure of the Contador Foundation, finally ended with the uncertainty of a change of leadership (8 kilometres from the end it was reduced to 1’24”), but not with the breakaway. The leader’s peloton came within 40 seconds of the breakaway from which Fernando Rodríguez (Extremadura), the eventual winner, and Aitor Bugarín (Lasal Cocinas) had moved moments before. Antonio González finished eighth.
Antonio González: “I got into a large breakaway, with people who ‘sailed’ and my role here was easy: not to pass the relay, as we had the leader behind us and we had to protect the yellow. In the end, as we were going to play for the victory, I attacked with one kilometre to go, but it wasn’t enough to catch the two escapees and I was eighth at the finish. I’m happy with the sensations I had and for having the opportunity to see myself at the front in my first year in the category. Now, with the team to give everything to keep the leader until the end, although there is still a long way to go and we go day by day”.
Javi Serrano: “One more day that has been saved. In the end these are the most difficult days, with a big breakaway, a very difficult day to control because nobody wants to pull… Of course you can’t relax any day. There’s still a long way to go, there’s still a lot of mountains to go and we’re going the same way: day by day, stage by stage. We have saved the day well, we have managed to get Antonio in the breakaway and compete with him for the stage and now we are going for the next commitment”.
This Friday the Vuelta a Zamora passes its halfway point and it does so with a change of timetable due to the high temperatures of these days. The traffic authorities have given the go-ahead to bring forward the stages of both Friday, with the finish in Valcabado, and Saturday. It is always good news when common sense prevails. Javi Serrano remains at the head of the general classification and Fran Muñoz leads the general classification for the mountains.
[📷 @lavueltaazamora]
