Pablo García fith in Piornal and Vuelta Extremadura
The last stage of the Vuelta a Extremadura was also the second sumitfinish stage of the race. The first differences that had opened up in the previous day and the time bonuses were going to end up deciding the general classification. Pablo García finished in fifth position both in the stage and in the general classification, also winning the regularity jersey.
The stage had a very different development from the first two days, a big breakaway opened more than 5 minutes of difference over the bunch where besides the leader’s team, the team worked. The pace increased as the key moment of the day approached little by little; the ascent to the alto del Torno and Piornal.
On the climb before the finish, the team, supporting Pablo García, set a very high pace and it was García himself who tried to go solo, but the group quickly caught him. On the final climb and accompanied by Martín Barrero, García first attacked and then held on and let the best classified rivals do their job until the last two kilometres, with the leader distanced, when he was able to try a new attack. He finally finished fifth, giving time to the chasing group, 19 seconds behind the four riders who were playing for the victory.
“I didn’t have the best legs, the race was very crazy and that’s why I left the responsibility to the ones who had the best position in the general classification”, explained Pablo García just after crossing the finish line in Piornal. “On the final two and a half kilometres Faura attacked and I stayed behind Carrascosa to close the gap. When I saw that he had no legs I went on my own. We tried to make our way and in the last kilometre i tried to gain a few seconds in the sprint, but it wasn’t possible”, added.
“I would have liked to have had a rider in the breakaway of the day, but there were no riders from teams that had a chance of winning the general classification,” said sports director Rafael Diaz. “We set a high pace to finish the breakaway, but in the end we couldn’t finish it off. The rivals were stronger than us,” he added.
