Eleazar Jiménez and Miguel Moreira in the top 10 of the Vuelta a la Montaña Central
The forth stage started with Eleazar Jiménez on the edge of the podium of the race. After a very demanding day he fell to 5th place in the overall classification with Miguel Moreira 8th as the best riders of the team. The places of both plus the 21st place of Hector Teruel helped the team to be the best squad in the Vuelta a la Montaña Central.
The fourth and final stage was the shortest of the race, but it featured two major mountain passes. The day started at a very high pace and the pack broke into two groups. It then regrouped with the control of the teams fighting for the intermediate classification for another day. On the first pass, La Collá (2nd), the pace was raised with attacks from the race leader. At the top of the climb, six riders, the six best riders in the general classification, were together and joined by Eleazar Jiménez. On the descent, José Miguel Moreira was able to join Jiménez’s group, forming an advanced group of about fifteen riders. On the last climb, the Alto del Cordal (1st), the leader of the race attacked, going solo and breaking the hegemony of the group. Jiménez crowned together with Moreira on a third step. Jiménez fell twice on the descent and reached the finish line in 9th place behind his teammate (8th) in a trickle of riders. Iker Díaz finished 14th. In the overall classification Jiménez finished 5th, with Moreira 8th and Teruel 21st, giving the team the prize for the best team of the race.
“The riders did well again, they all rode well, but today the race was complicated for us. I’m sorry because we had a great team, but we missed a point again. We can’t reproach them for anything because they have done a great race and have been involved to 200%”, explained Isaac Cantón, director of the junior team at the end of the last stage of the race.
“The feeling wasn’t good at all, my legs didn’t respond well on the climbs and I finished the stage disappointed. The race didn’t go as I expected and it didn’t finish as I wanted it to. I was hoping to fight for the overall, but from the beginning things didn’t go as I had planned, especially yesterday when I made a positioning mistake on the climb that made me lose a lot of time. Today the bad feelings have ruined all the possibilities of fighting for something better”, said Miguel Moreira completely disappointed after his race where he finished 8th in the general classification.
Eleazar Jiménez was the best rider of the team in the general classification: “It was a very explosive race and we went out at a high speed. On the first climb I felt very good and I got to the top with the best riders. On the descent more people came in behind me. On the Cordal I went at my pace, feeling better and better arriving at the top just behind the three best riders of the race. I went down very hard and I let behind the Belgian who was in front of me. I fell in a corner and after getting up and trying to make up time I fell again. I got up a bit more relaxed and I finished 9th, saving what I could. I finished 5th overall and with the team victory, so I’m satisfied with the race”.
Photo: Alberto Brevers
