Great protagonism for Isaac Cantón in the Nationals of Castellón
Spanish Cycling Championships 2018
Men’s route: Castellón de la Plana – Benicassim (215 km)
26 kilometres from the end, on the last lap of the Benicassim circuit, the final climb to the Desierto de las Palmas begins for the head of the race, a dozen runners from a large escape. On the slopes, the first attack bears the signature of Isaac Cantón from La Mancha, who selects this group with the race in its decisive phase and with the squad of the favourites just one more minute away. An attack that makes the effort, commitment and visibility of the Polartec-Kometa rider more concrete in this edition of the Spanish Championships. Canton will finely finish on the 24th, coming very close to the first group of favorites to play the silver and bronze medals. The gold, after arriving alone, went to Gorka Izagirre.
It was a frantic start, with 53 kilometres covered in its first hour, which was marked by a large escape of thirteen riders in which many teams were present. Among them, the Polartec-Kometa. Isaac Canton was his manager. Julen Amezqueta, Lluis Mas and Carlos Cobos (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA); Carlos Barbero and Imanol Erviti (Movistar); Sergio Rodríguez and Sergio Samitier (Murias), Pablo Torres (Burgos BH), Paco Mancebo (Inteja DCT), Álvaro Trueba (Sporting-Tavira), Gerard Armillas (Compack) and Diego López (Fundación Ciclista Euskadi) completed it. In short, it was a leak that was more than fourteen kilometres apart. After his offensive bet in the Desert of Las Palmas, Canton will resist at the head of the race after the arrival of Alejandro Valverde, Gorka Izaguirre or Jesús Herrada, but with cramps will lose contact in the last kilometers.
Isaac Cantón: “We came up with clear ideas to get us into the fugue where some of the runners of Movistar were, because anyone could be worth it to them. I entered the escape, where Barber was going, which interested them, and we started to take time. For lack of a lap I saw that it was very possible that they were not going to catch us, so I tried it to see if I could leave, with the idea of getting caught as early as possible. When we crowned the Desert for the third time, I just looked to my right and saw that the Izagirre and Ruben Fernandez and Valverde were there… I didn’t win, but I remembered last year that I did win in the U23 category. I am very happy because I have been able to be with the best in Spain, many of them the best in the world and for me many of them are also my idols. It’s a shame that with eight or nine kilometres to go I had to open up from that group that we had gathered on the way down, but there was no more strength left, I was cramped up. But the truth is, it was really good. It’s been a day to enjoy the bike.
Diego Pablo Sevilla finished 59th at 9:10, while Miguel Angel Ballesteros finished 13:16 at 74th.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
? Photo Gomez Sport
