Marcel Camprubí consolidates his overall victory in the Caves of Monte Castillo in the Vuelta a Cantabria 2022
Vuelta Ciclista a Cantabria
Stage 3: Puente Viesgo – Cuevas del Monte Castillo (148,8 km)
Barcelona’s Marcel Camprubí won the Vuelta a Cantabria 2022, his second overall stage victory of the season after his success in the last Vuelta a Toledo Imperial, after winning on Saturday in the Cuevas de Monte Castillo de Puente Viesgo with a hard acceleration with 300 metres to go. Julen Arriola-Bengoa and Abel Balderstone completed the podium, while David Domínguez finished the mountain race in seventh place.
Camprubí was one of the seven riders who started at the head of the race after the Pasiego route and the passage through the Puerto de La Braguía, summit Jorge López in memory of the motorcyclist who died during the last edition. The Catalan rider of the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team formed a group with Antonio Nieto (Lizarte), Alejandro Luna del Cerro (Previley), Adrien Maire and Clement Delcross (Aix-en-Provence), Abel Balderstone and Julen Arriola-Bengoa (Caja Rural). David Domínguez, the team’s other main asset for the general classification, could not be present at the front, as he was hampered by an untimely puncture and a subsequent change of bike which prevented him from being in front at the moment of acceleration.
A well-matched group that soon distanced the previous leader, Benja Prades, who defended himself after suffering in El Caracol against a great offensive by the Caja Rural team. At the top of La Braguía the advantage between the leader and the leader was more than a minute. And in that vanguard both Camprubí and Arriola-Bengoa were equal in time with the yellow jersey until this Saturday.
The breakaway ended up reaching the final kilometre and a half with the certainty that both the stage and the overall were ahead. At the base moved Alejandro Luna del Cerro (Previley), while behind the Caja Rural pair tried to plug the gap. With 300 metres to go, Camprubí launched a dizzying acceleration that allowed him to achieve a minimum income to catch Luna del Cerro, overtake him to win and secure the overall of the race.
Marcel Camprubí: “I had a little thorn in my side from the last edition, when I suffered a fall on this very stage. Remembering that day I was a bit scared on the descents, but in the end everything went in the best way. Caja Rural came with very clear ideas about how to blow up the race, something we wanted to do, but they got ahead of us. When the race was selected, from Caral to the end, I had some doubts because there was double representation of both Caja Rural and Aix-en-Provence, I was worried that they could move before the last climb. On the final wall I felt very good and as in a short sprint I’m not, let’s say, particularly good, I was clear that if I wanted to do something I had to start before”.
[📷 @ciclismogonzalez (1, 2), Fabio / El Pelotón (3)]
