David Martin resists at the head of a Cup whose general is squeezed after Torredonjimeno

36ª Clásica Ciudad de Torredonjimeno
Torredonjimeno-Torredonjimeno (160 km)

Pucelan Vicente Hernaiz, tenth, and Catalan Álex Martín, fourteenth, were the first two riders of the Kometa-Xstra Cycling Team U23 to reach the Avenida de Jaén, the finish line of an edition of the Clásica de Torredonjimeno in which the breakaway triumphed and Puerto Rican Abner González (Telco’ m) won. Hernaiz, who scored 35 points, remains one point behind the leader of a provisional general of the Cup in which he resists, despite not scoring this Sunday, the Seville David Martin.

Always demanding given the orography in which the test takes place, in this edition of the classic Andalusian took to forge a consistent break. In that search, a very lively rhythm and in a context of multiple alternatives. A phase of the frenetic race in which Kometa-Xstra Mario Vilches and Edu Pérez-Landaluce, among others, would be involved.

Before the special sprint of Alcaudete, a group would begin to form, finally of eighteen units, which would lead the development of the race in the demanding phase of the harbour chain. Never with more than a minute’s lead over a pack in which the Lizarte was working and where the Kometa-Xstra was guarding David Martín.

On the way up to Valdepeñas the breakaway was planned that would be definitive while behind Martín lost contact with the group. The Puerto Rican Abner González, the New Zealander Thompson Reuben and the South African Byron Munton would stand out in their last ramps and would achieve a tenth of a second that they would consolidate to be able to reach the end with options of victory with a group of about twenty-five units in which the Kometa-Xstra Cycling Team had five representatives.

González would leave his fellow runners in the final part and would manage to win alone, while the group of favourites would arrive nine seconds later. In his sprint, Vicente Hernaiz finished tenth and Álex Martín, fourteenth. Given the different scores, David Martín managed to save the red jersey for the last round of the Spanish Cup, next Sunday 11 October: the Valenciaga Memorial. “We knew that it was a very hard race in which there would be interest in trying to count us on the climb. It made me very angry that I stayed just as I was crowning the last summit”, concludes Martín.

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)