Eleazar Jimenez second on the first stage of Vuelta a la Montaña Central
The first stage of the Vuelta a la Montaña Central started with a favorable stage for a sprint finish. With 20 kilometres to go, a small break was formed in which Eleazar Jiménez and Pablo Leno were able to be and finally reach the finish line to dispute the victory. Jiménez was second and the squad got the best team of the day award.
The stage went at high speed with constant attacks to try to form the breakaway. Only one rider was able to break away alone, but his adventure would not last long. The speed of the bunch was very high and there was no room for breakaways. The trend continued for a long time until, with 20 kilometres to go and after having set a great pace after the second intermediate sprint of the day, a breakaway was formed with Eleazar Jiménez and Pablo Leno included. They managed to keep the pulse on a bunch where there was a fall that, on the one hand, affected three riders of the team who quickly got up to resume the march and, on the other hand, gave more advantage to the group of Jiménez and Leno.
They finally managed to reach the finish line in the lead and fought for a stage victory that only narrowly escaped. Jiménez was second and Leno fifth after a great job by both riders. The main group with the rest of the team came 26 seconds behind.
Isaac Cantón, in charge of the team in the Asturian race, explained what happened in the final part of the stage that led the team to a second place: “I saw that there were several riders of the favorites at the back of the bunch and I asked them to put rhythm in the group. The group was cut off and some of them lost time at the finish line. Then we made an advance group where we got Pablo Leno and Eleazar. We managed to gain time over other cyclists. We were again on the verge of victory, but I think they rode well”.
Pablo Leno was a protagonist in the breakaway that reached the finish line and thwarted the plans of the peloton: “It was a very fast race. We averaged 48 km/h. We ran the whole team ahead and very attentive, being in all the breaks, and in one of those was when we opened a gap four riders and then Eleazar entered with another and it was a time trial to the finish. We were close to the win, but even so, we are very happy with Eleazar’s second place and the team victory”.
Eleazar Jiménez accompanied Leno in the adventure and finally took a second place: “It was a transition stage in which it was going to be a sprint. There was a moment when Moreira and I started to break the race and Leno and I broke away. It seemed that we were caught from behind, but there was a fall in the bunch that helped us to open up more space. From the start we went flat out all the way to the finish line. We knew that with who we were riding with we could make it. It was a surprise, nobody expected it. You had to have legs, but you also had to be smart. We gained an advantage for the following stages and also had extra motivation. It was a complicated sprint against the Belgian. Leno told me that he had bad legs and he helped me, he did everything he could to give us an advantage over the group for the general classification”.
