Fran Muñoz, brilliant bronze in the road race of the Spanish Championships
The cyclist from Mataró Fran Muñoz was one of the main protagonists of a demanding and tough edition of the road race of the Spanish Cycling Championships, held in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, and ended up winning a well-deserved bronze medal. The EOLO-KOMETA U23 rider, very active in some movements before reaching the halfway point of the race, was able to respond in first person and alone to reach the head of the race that would end up being the good breakaway of the day.
In this movement of five riders (initially six, given the presence of the Asturian Hugo de la Calle, who would later give way) were Unai Aznar (Navarra), Josep Tomas (Comunitat Valenciana), Sergio Geerlings (Murcia), Alain Suárez (Cantabria) and Diego Uriarte (Navarra). Muñoz reached them, recovering more than a minute and a half in a lesson of perseverance and strength.
On the second and final ascent to Cruz Verde, Tomás would move and with him would move Aznar and Muñoz. And the three of them began a battle against all the pursuers. With three kilometres to go, they were still holding on by 25 seconds. A key moment for the future of the race. Finally Unai Aznar, winner of the time trial the day before, achieved a formidable and unusual double (time trial, route) with 8 seconds over Josep Tomás and 12 over Fran Muñoz. Eighth, 42 seconds behind, also a great participation, was Raúl López from Aragón. The rider from Zaragoza was one of the riders who moved from the chasing group in the last fifteen kilometres in search of the head of the race.
Italy
The town of Mordano (Emilia Romagna) hosted this Saturday the long-distance road race of the Italian U23 Championships. A large representation of the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team under the direction of Rafa Díaz Justo took part in it. An edition celebrated under an intense heat in a circuit different from the originally foreseen one, due to the last floods happened in the zone last month, that presented up to nine ascents to the Monte Frasinetto-Tre Monti near Ímola.
The victory went to Francesco Busatto (Circus), who played the title with Luca Cretti (Colpack). A minute behind was a first chasing group and at 2’20” another group with Luca Bagnara (18th) and Andrea Montoli (20th). Montoli was very active during the race and was part of an important movement of ten riders who led the way with a minute’s margin with 60 kilometres to go. Montoli, however, would eventually drop out of that group when several attacks came in.
[? @RFECiclismo / Vanesa Martínez / IsolaPress -ExtraGiro]
