Andrea Pietrobon climbs the podium in a Circuito del Guadiana with great group performance of the squad
Circuito del Guadiana / Copa de España
Don Benito – Don Benito (178 km)
The great start of the season of the U23 structure of the Contador Foundation continues. The Italian Andrea Pietrobon came close to victory this Sunday in the Circuito del Guadiana in Don Benito, first race of the Spanish Cup Elite and U23 in which the Russian rider Gleb Syritsa (Lokosphinx) won. The EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team rider, second, is the first overall leader of the Cup in the elite category.
Pietrobon, Syritzsa and British rider Charles Beake managed to reach the final straight with a minimal advantage over the main bunch. The three of them, together with the ‘rias baixas’ Martin Rey, and the Asturian Yago Segovia (Gomur) made up the quintet that stood at the foot of the last of the four climbs to Magacela. A movement that took place on the route to the penultimate finish line when Segovia was riding alone in the lead, with a lead of three minutes. Until then, the race was generally very grouped with the seven members of the team riding in the leading positions.
Syritza, a member of the Russian national track cycling team, and imposing a beastly pace, carried much of the weight of that movement in the final part of the race. Segovia dropped off first, paying for the efforts made so far. Rey, with muscular problems, also had to give up. Pietrobon, who had already had to deal with Syritzsa last season in the Italian calendar, tried to surprise in the streets of Don Benito, but without success.
Andrea Pietrobon “I tried to get away at one kilometre, but the Russian is a very powerful rider, very explosive. I know him well. We had a similar situation to last year in the Vicenza-Bionde, and with the same result. Did we think we could make it to the finish after the last pass through Magacela? Yes, I thought it was possible, because both Syritzsa and Beake were very strong. I gave everything I had, I felt good, but I didn’t have much pace and at the end I also felt tired”.
Rafa Díaz Justo, director of EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team U23: “Don Benito always has the handicap that the volata is usually numerous, although these last years it is true that small groups or breakaways are arriving. On this occasion the race was very slow, and when this is like that it does not benefit us because we do not have a pure sprinter. We played Andrea’s trump card because he told us he was doing well, it was a bit of an adventure, we didn’t know if they were going to leave us, there were some guys ahead of us and that breakaway had to be taken down, they got a gap very quickly and when the bunch wanted to react it was a bit late because the guys in front were going strong. The pity was that one of the big favourites for the win was in the breakaway, which was the Russian who won. From minute 0 he was the fastest, he comes from the track, he is very fast. I’m happy with the way we’ve started the year, recent victory, second place today… Blessed second place, arriving alone in a race like this”.
