A day to learn and suffer in the less mediatic orographies of the Central System
32ª Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid
Stage 2: San Martín de Valdeiglesias-San Martín de Valdeiglesias (163 km)
The Central System contains many large ascents with their own name within cycling. Whether because of its more competitive aspect or because of its more cycling practice, it is a Massif with many links to the world of the bicycle. In its mountains some great moments of this sport have been gestated. Hardness, exigency; also scenographies. The second stage of the Vuelta a Madrid, with an incursion into Ávila’s soil, showed that Saturday a much less famous side of the possibilities of this massif, that of a complex route, full of slopes and with very uncomfortable layouts. The cumulative slopes of the computers comfortably surpassed the 2,500 meters. And a great majority of them, concentrated in the first 75 kilometers. A day of learning for the Kometa Cycling Team, perhaps not the best in terms of classifications, but a very important one for a continental sports structure with a firm commitment to the training of great professionals.
In San Martín de la Vega, Álex Aranburu won, the Basque rider of a Caja Rural that also rose to the top of the race with this triumph. The fastest of a group of about thirty units that reached the population of Madrid at the pace imposed by the Movistar Team and Arkea-Samsic. The bulk of the riders of the Kometa Cycling Team reached the finish line in a second and very large group, 15:10 from the winner. The youngest Samuele Rubino, 39th, was the first of the finishers. “It has been a tremendously tough stage, much harder than it might seem on paper. Lots of climbs, lots of ramps. And then, of course, the speed,” said the Italian.
Special mention for Isaac Cantón, 41º, who had to manage a very difficult day as a consequence of the fall he suffered in the last kilometres of the first stage. The manchego, battered, sore, after not spending the best of nights and with some additional discomfort from poor posture, showed his great engine with a lesson in managing suffering and fatigue. “It wasn’t my best day, we survived as best we could. The discomfort is always there,” he adds. Diego Pablo Sevilla, leader of the mountain, lost his jersey. Paco Mancebo got into the breakaway during the day and passed first all the scoring mountain heights, overtaking the Spaniard in a classification in which Seville, 18 points compared to Mancebo’s 21, still has options. José Antonio García from Granada could not finish.
Michele Gazzoli, the fast man, who will have his great opportunity this Sunday in the last stage of the Vuelta, reached the finish line in a third group, at 19:06. “It has been a day without respite and now it is time to recover well to see how we can do in La Castellana”. This Sunday the Vuelta a Madrid ends with a stage that will be entirely disputed in an urban circuit in the capital of Spain.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
