Great performance of Alejandro Ropero in a very disputed edition of Ordizia to say goodbye to the season
97ª Prueba Villafranca – Ordiziako Klasika
October 12th: Ordizia-Ordizia (165,7 km)
The 2020 season of the Kometa-Xstra Cycling Team ended this Monday with an exciting edition of the Ordiziako Klasika in which Alejandro Ropero from Granada remained in the ointment until the last of the five climbs to Abaltzisketa. The Grenadian finally finished nineteenth in a race where the British Simon Carr (Nippo-Delko) would win alone.
Ropero was the third best u23 rider (after the British Carr and the French Matis Louvel) of a frenetic day, without any break, hardened even more by the rain and the cold present in an autumn day marked, in the sport, by a multitude of constant alternatives that sought to break the race in search of the escape. The stagiare Arturo Grávalos was very active in this company in the first third of the race.
But this edition of the dean of the state calendar without WordlTour formations was more than ever an elimination test where the continental Arkea and Caja Rural took that witness of the protagonism. The entry in the route of the climb to Altzo, in the penultimate lap, was definitive in the selection of the race, leaving in its vanguard a score of cyclists among whom was Alejandro Ropero. In the plain before the last pass through Abaltzisketa, five riders stood out, from which the victory and the composition of the podium would come.
After the race the Andalusian pointed out: “I would have liked to have finished a little further on, above all because of the hard work that my colleagues have done once again, but this end of the season leaves a good taste in the mouth for the future. It has been a really hard edition, without a moment’s respite. Halfway through the race I got into a group of about fifteen units that in the end has been the escape that has walked more all day, and never took more than half a minute because Amore e Vita worked a lot behind. It was a very interesting move. At the end, the last lap was really frenetic, with the seven riders of the Caja Rural pulling out all the stops for the last two climbs. They made a very demanding approach. The first ramps of Altzo have dynamited the group, but we have had good legs to be close in the first attacks”.
“The race has been very hard because of the weather. And because of the rhythm. Very lively all day. In the first two hours we averaged 46 km/h and on a route with its demands. On the search for the escape, we had to try it yes or yes. One of our objectives was to catch the breaks and fight for points in the secondary rankings. In the end the escape was not made and it was up to Ropero to help him to get the best possible position”, concludes Arturo Grávalos.
? Vanessa Sousa (1, 2, 3) y @Txirrindulariak (1)
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
