Diego Pablo Sevilla extends his reign in the mountains of Burgos
The Team Polti Kometa rider scored 50 points after a long breakaway in the second stage of the Vuelta a Burgos and is close to mathematical victory in the classification of the best climber. The explosive finish in Ojo Guareña had Restrepo as protagonist, although he could not finish among the leading positions.
The script of the first stage was repeated, in this case with a breakaway of four riders formed just after the start from Villasana de Mena. Aware of the opportunity to prolong his dominance in the mountains classification, Diego Sevilla joined Isasa (Euskaltel), Aparicio (Burgos BH) and Sorarráin (Caja Rural) in a breakaway that reached a lead of more than 3 minutes, and even considered fighting for the win.
But before that, Diego Sevilla worked hard to score points in the best climber classification, a total of five mountains today, where he was first in three of them and second in two. A great harvest to place himself with 50 points, practically virtual winner of this classification in the Vuelta a Burgos.
With the goal achieved of returning to the podium with the red jersey of the mountains, a fall in the main group gave some respite to the advantage of the leaders. But the expected acceleration towards the final part caused the neutralisation within the last 15 kilometres, after the first pass through the finish line, and led to a sprint fight for the victory.
Jhonatan Restrepo wanted to get into the sprint, riding in the top 5 in the last kilometres, but without being able to finish off in the demanding finish where Caleb Ewan (Jayco) won, and its now the new leader of the Vuelta a Burgos.
Diego Pablo Sevilla: “Luckily, the breakaway was made fast, with new team-mates from yesterday, but I was able to score a lot of points. They disputed two of the KOM climbs, although I now have 50 points and I think I’m very close to being able to take this jersey definitively. Let’s see if tomorrow we can consolidate it because it would be a great result”.
Jesús Hernández, sport director: “We keep the mountains jersey, we have been present in the race and on the podium with Diego, although in the end we have not been able to get the expected result with Restrepo. It’s true that he was in the fight, so we can’t blame ourselves. Fabbro was affected in the crash with 25 kilometres to go, but without consequences, and Piganzoli and Double also saved the day, so we’re going into the mountain stage with all our opportunities”.
Tomorrow will be the queen stage, with 138 kilometres of racing and the top finish in Lagunas de Neila. An opportunity for the climbers in which the general classification should also begin to be defined, always pending Thursday’s time trial, which could be decisive.
