Gavazzi, leader of the mountains in a stage of O Gran Camiño neutralised by the snow

Long breakaway and great fight of the Italian rider Francesco Gavazzi, who scored the necessary points to take the first mountain jersey of O Gran Camiño. The race was neutralised on the last climb due to a heavy snow.

A day of contrasts, where low temperatures were the protagonist and the weather varied from hail and rain to some stretches even under faint rays of sunshine. Well wrapped up, determined to be protagonists, the EOLO KOMETA riders were involved in all the breakaway attempts in the initial part of the race until a breakaway of nine riders with Gavazzi was formed.

Not a single flat metre, continuous ascents and descents, but always with the threat of really adverse weather and the cold into the riders’ bodies. Gavazzi passed the Alto da Fontela (2nd category) in first position and managed to take second place at Cruz do Incio. Virtual leader of the mountains, he worked to maintain a breakaway that reached 4 minutes but was neutralised on the last climb.

The snow started to fall even more heavily in the last 20 kilometres and the peloton decided to stop the race. With no possibility of safely racing the final part of the stage and with 5 centimetres of snow on the vehicles in just a few minutes, the stage was suspended without racing the finish. There are still three days left of O Gran Camiño to fight for the final victory.

Francesco Gavazzi: “There was a big breakaway and it was in the plan that one of us should be there. The group didn’t leave us much gap, and so there was little chance of us to fight for the win. So I focused on trying to fight for the mountains classification, scoring as many points as possible. It didn’t really rain that much, but it was cold, it had been snowing for 10 kilometres and it wasn’t possible to think about continuing, with the last climb and the descent still to come. I think it was necessary to suspend the final part”.

Jesús Hernández: “We have a positive assessment of this first stage, which has been very complicated. We fought hard in the breakaway and we managed to get Francesco Gavazzi in the breakaway, scoring points in the mountain passes to make him the virtual leader; while in the bunch we rode together, protecting Fortunato in the face of the decisive last climb although he didn’t make it up. Bad luck because of the weather, it’s a pity, but now we have to think about what’s left and keep the line”.