17 Jun 2023

On the verge of victory in La Rioja

Clásica La Rioja – Memorial Arturo Grávalos

Logroño –Villamediana de Iregua (126 km)

Gabriele Bessega finished second this Saturday in a second edition of the Clásica La Rioja, a very special race because the figure of the late Arturo Grávalos was remembered and honoured. A very important event for the U23 structure of the Contador Foundation, marked in red to fight for the victory and to dedicate it to the brave man from La Rioja, who died a few days ago due to a brain tumour. Pol Hervás was the fastest of the five riders who came into the final part of the race with a chance of winning.

A large breakaway, more than thirty riders, ended up breaking the race before the first hour had passed. In that movement, which previously had been preceded by others with blue protagonism of the hand, among others, of Raúl López, was on the part of the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team both Bessega and Edoardo Alleva. and Luca Bagnara. The presence of multiple well-represented teams meant that the breakaway gained several minutes of margin.

With the advantage consolidated, in the last 50 kilometres, several offensive movements in the leading group would arrive. Finally, Hervás and Bessega, Álvaro García (Telco’m), Martín Rey (Cortizo) and Javier Ibáñez (Caja Rural) would finally crystallise. “The goal today was to win and it was to win for Arturo, in the end it couldn’t be, but we were close. A second place is nice. The team has been perfect and personally I feel my physical condition is improving”, explains Bessega.

Isaac Cantón: “The experience of the last few months has been very difficult for all of us who knew him. I am convinced that Arturo, because of his way of being, his eternal smile, his smiling character, will be very happy to see a day like this. Arturo was a delight. It was important for us to be here. And to be able to play a good role was an obligation. There was no better way to honour him than to go for the limelight and fight for the victory. We couldn’t dedicate the victory to him, but Pol Hervás is a great cyclist whom Arturo appreciated very much”.

[? Álvaro García (1), Mertxe Labrador ]