From the fight by Márton Dina to the good legs of Edward Ravasi and Alessandro Fancellu
Settimana Internacionale di Coppi e Bartali
Stage 2: Riccione – Sogliano al Rubicone (163.5 km)
Get up after falling down. That’s the attitude. Márton Dina went down twice in the first sector of the first stage of the Settimana Coppi e Bartali. He regretted his injuries, all of them superficial, and hoped to forget them. In the second stage, the Hungarian did not hesitate and set himself the goal of catching the breakaway. He succeeded. Six cyclists were in the lead. Between them, he and Xabier Mikel Azparren, who stood out, for 140 kilometres in total. A demanding stage, full of climbs with a tough final climb. A good terrain for Márton, the new king of the mountains.
Five climbs to Sogliano al Rubicone, the last of them hosting the finish line, toughened the final part of a tremendous, complicated stage, with a very hard circuit. Márton Dina did a great job at the front while in the peloton the rest of the team worked hard to protect Edward Ravasi as much as possible. Once the breakaway was caught in the last 25 kilometres, it was a new race. And in the final kilometres, many attacks and a lively pace. On the final climb, Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard won, ahead of Colombian Iván Ramiro Sosa. Edward Ravasi, fourteenth, was the first of the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team riders. Alessandro Fancellu arrived immediately afterwards.
Vingegaard is the new leader of a general classification in which Ravasi jumps to 16th place at 44 seconds, with Fancellu in 17th. Márton Dina is the new king of the mountains.
Edward Ravasi: “The arrival was not one of those that suited me, but despite this I’m happy with what I did, arriving among the first. Unfortunately, in the first part of the stage I crashed and ended up in a ditch: when I got back on my bike the group was three minutes away and I have to thank the team that did a great job to bring me back. Too bad, maybe without that fall I could have done something more…who knows”.
Marton Dina: “After Tuesday’s stage with the two crashes I was really motivated because I wanted to show off and show what I’m worth. I attacked immediately and fortunately the breakaway went away quite easily. For the first 70 kilometers we went well, then when there were only two of us left obviously everything became more difficult: I went full throttle, I missed the first KOM and it was a mistake but I told myself that I could never miss the second pass and in fact I succeeded. The third pass was complicated because we knew that the group was coming back strong and I had to give everything to pass first: then, I had no more, really. I didn’t have the strength to stay with the first group and I only thought about getting to the finish line”.
[ PhotoGomezSport]
