Sergio Calvo wins the final general classification of the Volta a Girona

A time trial between Setcases and Vallter 2000, a usual pass in the Volta a Catalunya with very respectable numbers in terms of hardness, length and altitude, hosted this festive Monday the closing of the U19 Challenge Volta a Girona with a great role of Sergio Calvo. The Galician rider, who finished second in the stage, managed to close by seven seconds the definitive leadership of the Catalan race.

The time trial was won by Adrià Pericas (Europa Tadesan), who stopped the clock at 35’29”. Sergio Calvo finished 41 seconds behind, the only rider able to stay less than a minute behind. And from there, there were important differences, given the size of the climb. A great performance by Miguel Domínguez, ninth in the stage; a result that makes even more bitter his mechanical problem on Sunday when he was very well placed in the general classification.

Sergio Calvo: “What a tough climb! Fortunately we were able to save it in the best possible way. But it was very hard. It was a killer time trial, you had to know how to manage your efforts very well because if you arrived just in the last three kilometres, which were very hard, you could lose a lot of time. In my area I have very hard climbs, like Cabeza de Manzaneda or El Sestil, but the pace is not the same in competition as out of it and just for that reason Vallter 2000 was tremendous. The Volta a Girona was a really tough race”.

Gorka Beloki, team manager: “The Volta a Girona has been a much more demanding race than originally planned with those changes due to traffic issues. Every day was tough, the first day with the adverse weather. This time trial climb at the end was very, very hard, quite an experience for the category, and there were some very interesting times, especially because it was all about starting and starting to climb. Sergio is a physical prodigy, he has to keep learning how to ride, but he has great quality. His team-mates have been really behind him since his arrival and in this race they have given him enormous support, they have done a fantastic job”.