From a great day in San Vendemiano and another one marked by circumstances in Valladolid
Andrea Montoli and Arnau Gilabert stood out this Sunday in a Trofeo Città di San Vendimiano in which the Danish Biesse-Carrera rider Anders Foldager imposed his speed on the small group, twenty-five riders, who played for the victory in the race. Montoli closed the top ten with an interesting tenth place that Gilabert rounded off three places further back (13th).
The run-up to the race was not optimistic. A crash during the previous day’s training session had affected both Gilabert and Gabriele Raccagni, who needed stitches on his left cheekbone due to a cut. The race, however, saw an active EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team U23, with the quintet active to the evolutions of a race in which a breakaway dominated a good part of the day.
“It is my best classification in a home race”, says a happy Montoli. “It’s my first top 10 in an Italian and international race. We tried to be in front on the two climbs to Ca’ del Poggio. It was important to do it that way, not only because of the ramps, but also because of the somewhat dangerous descent to the Formiga climb. And the further back the whip is worse. So we ended up happy and it’s clear that we have to keep working, with the pick and shovel”. Arnau Gilabert, for his part, says: “After the Gran Premio Palio del Recioto I started to see that I was in much better shape, I noticed a more significant progress. Maybe I didn’t believe it a little bit. Yesterday after the crash I was a bit angry, but during the day I felt very good and, after suffering, I was able to be there”.
Volata in Valladolid. The Memorial Ángel Lozano, fifth round of the Spanish Cup, was resolved in a tight mass sprint of about sixty riders, after a crash near the finish line in which Fran Muñoz was involved without consequences (from these lines, and on behalf of the whole team, all the encouragement and strength for Pau Torrent), where the fastest rider was Aritz Urra (Telco’m). Sebastiano Minoia and Tommaso Bessega (26th, 28th) were the first riders of the team to cross the finish line.
This was an edition of the Puebla race in which the wind was not the protagonist, in which an initial breakaway of five riders, later nine, managed to lead the day for a good part of the day, with the peloton always keeping it within contained margins. With about twenty kilometres to go, the breakaway was neutralised and on the climbs to Simancas and Robladillo several accelerations took place, including some led by Fran Muñoz and Sebastiano Minoia.
Sebastiano Minoia: “My legs were good all day, I felt good on the climbs and I had a good rhythm during the whole day, which was good because I was coming from a difficult week when I was ill. On the penultimate climb we had talked about trying. David Domínguez moved and I jumped after him, we went together for five or six kilometres, but we ended up being caught. The final part was a bit dangerous, with a lot of tension, tightness and twists and turns in the final two kilometres. Gabriele was preparing for the finish and got a puncture and Fran went to the ground in the fall in the final kilometre. It was a bit of a chaotic finish where we couldn’t do any more”.
[? Ristorante Ca’ del Poggio]
