Gold and silver for Carlos Rodríguez and José Luis Medina in the Andalusian Time Trial Championship

Championships of Andalusia Route and Against the clock 2019
Cártama-Cártama (7.4 kilometres against individual time)

The Malaga town of Cártama began its conversion into the epicenter of Andalusian cycling with the kickoff of the Andalusian Championships that started this Friday with the dispute of the races against the clock for all categories. A time trial that in the junior male category provided a great protagonism for the runners of the Kometa Cycling Team, with victory for Carlos Rodríguez from Granada and a silver medal for José Luis Medina from Cadiz (born in Malaga).

The route, of 7.4 kilometers, had its technical difficulty due to the presence of several roundabouts that marked it. A factor that made him dangerous. Rodríguez, current Spanish champion of the modality and one of the great favourites to the victory, went to the ground halfway through it, although he did not suffer any serious damage and was able to revalidate the title he won a year ago in Bélmez de la Moraleda. This Friday’s title in Cártama is Rodríguez’s fourth consecutive autonomic title against the clock after 2016 and 2017, both as a cadet, and 2018, already as a junior.

“I was taking the corners of the time trial quite calmly, as last year I fell right at the start. However, in a left-hand curve, there was a change of course and despite taking it calmly, it was dirty and my bike was gone. However, I got up as fast as I could and continued to the finish without any problem”, explains del Almuñecar, who set a time of 9:52 at the finish. Medina stopped the time trial in 10:03. “The sensations have been very good, but the runner-up has suffered a lot”, says the rider from Setenil de las Bodegas.

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)