Carlos Rodríguez, Álex Martín and Iván Oliver, among the top ten in Soria

Spanish Junior Championships
Soria-Soria (123,7 km)

Carlos Rodríguez from Granada, recent Spanish champion in the time trial category, finished fourth in the road race of some Nationals where Jon Barrenetxea (Euskadi) won.

Barrenetxea won the title thanks to an attack within the last ten kilometers that highlighted a score of seconds with respect to the small platoon that shortly before had neutralized a leak of the day in which was involved the Murcian Ivan Oliver. A few moments of doubt in the pack consolidated his escape and allowed him to arrive with just a couple of seconds on the Cantabrian Iván Cobo, silver, and also Basque Aitor Larrañanga, bronze.

“It hasn’t been a very hard race, because with the exception of some runners, everybody has run in a very conservative way. However, I tried to attack and respond to the attacks of other riders, but the collaboration was not good at all. I looked pretty good in form, but the headwind at a key moment, the lack of hardness of the climbs and the excessive control prevented me from going, either alone or with a rider who was willing to collaborate”, Rodríguez analyses.

The Catalan Álex Martín finished sixth and Iván Oliver from Murcia finished eighth, consolidating the presence of three Polartec-Kometa riders in the top ten of the championships. “The race at the end has become tough because the terrain was going up and down and because it has been very selective,” said Martin. “Great, it has been a great day, it was going quite well”, commented Oliver.

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)