Little reward for so much work in the Circuito del Guadiana
53rd Circuito del Guadiana
Don Benito -Don Benito (171,4 km)
The Spanish Cup elite and sub23 started this Sunday in Don Benito (Badajoz) with a new edition of the Circuito del Guadiana in which won a small cut and in which the Kometa Cycling Team could not get a higher prize to the fight shown in the race. “It has been a somewhat complicated race,” summarizes the Balearic Joan Martí Bennassar. The Catalan Gerard Armilla (Team Compak) won the race, the fastest of four cyclists who faced the final part, and is the first leader of the Cup. Alejandro Ropero from Granada finished fourteenth, nine seconds behind, in the sprint of a chasing group of 30 units where the Kometa Cycling Team was also represented by Sergio García, Eduardo Pérez-Landaluce and Carlos García. Another intense and very fast edition, with the winner averaging 43.7 km/h.
“It has been a hard and long day, but we have managed to be ahead and scratch some points. It was a very nervous edition, with sections of wind that could do a lot of damage and with Magacela selecting a lot on each lap. In the last ascent I managed to pass it well in front and enter the group headboard, “explained Alejandro Ropero to the thread of the development of the test. As expected, many escape attempts and many more movements in the different groups that have been formed during the morning. In the last step of the ascent to Magacela, that 1.1 kilometre to 10.8 with peaks of 20%, some thirty cyclists have ended up standing out at the head of the race, although with four names in their vanguard.
In the last kilometres Íñigo Elosegui (Lizarte), Ángel Fuentes (Gomur), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural) and Gerard Armilla (Team Compak), who finished the race with a nine-second margin over the first bunch, were overtaken. Alejandro Ropero, with some problem of cramps, has not been able to get involved in this movement although he tried to fill the gap and initially seemed to be able to get it.
“The team has been very good, protecting us at all times before the climbs and putting in check very powerful teams in the plane. The attitude has been very good from everyone. But this race is a little unfair, unkind with all that work that often is not seen but is there, but we will get races that come better. This has just begun,” adds Ropero.
Rafa Diaz Justo, director of the Kometa Cycling Team U23: “I’m not happy with the result because of all the work done by the riders. It is fourteenth place knows little by little … But better races will come. The race has had many phases, groups, escapes, sometimes half fans, … we have been very well represented. With one lap to go, we had a situation that was very interesting for us, a group of thirty riders. Joan Martí Bennasar, Arturo Grávalos, Carlos García and Sergio García rode in this group. We made Caja Rural jump back, because it was going to the race, and just caught before the last climb to Magacela. There Alejandro Ropero has been very attentive, but has had to make a lot of effort to go up positions and fill gaps. It’s a pity he couldn’t keep up with the head quartet when that movement was formed”.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
