Protagonism in Valdefresno, tireless struggle on the road to Llucena
Three riders in the top ten of a race in which a small breakaway succeeded in its fight against the peloton with a margin of thirteen seconds in the 2023 edition of the Valdefresno City Council Trophy. Miguel Domínguez, sixth, Mario Gómez, eighth, and Balint Feldhoffer, tenth, were in the vanguard of the chasing group that could not catch Juan Hermosa (Recambios Callejo) and Mateo Ramírez (Ciudad de Talavera). Héctor García could not be there either after a great job.
Héctor García was the protagonist of the breakaway, riding at the head of the race for many kilometres. The rider from Murcia, in the end, could not stay in front and enter the fight, but he was able to put all his efforts of the day into practice with the victory in the general classification of the intermediate sprints. The team put in a great performance in a race where the wind was very present and in which the six members of the team finished in the twenty riders that made up the peloton.
“It was a very fast race, with fans, and I think the team did very well throughout the day. Héctor was in the breakaway all day, it was a pity that he was left at the end”, said Miguel Domínguez, first of the riders in blue at the finish line. “From the peloton, two riders who had jumped out of the peloton caught those of us who were in the breakaway. In the final pass, 100 metres from the top, they let me and another rider go and we couldn’t catch them”, said Héctor García.
In the Trofeo Mas de la Cosa de Llucena, third race of the Trofeo Víctor Cabedo 2023, Manuel Sanroma finished twelfth in another race where the vanguard triumphed in a race that exploded in the climbs before the Alto de Infantería that underpinned the evolution of the race. Pablo Torres (Sanse) beat Adrià Pericas (Europa-Tadesan) at the finish, both of them had been among the offensive riders on that climb and formed a group at the front with a blue presence.
A frenetic first hour, at an average of over 43 km/h, which had its consequences, embodied in a multitude of small groups. A broken race, in short, a textbook race. Balazs Pollner was part of a breakaway of five riders who, halfway through the race, were two minutes ahead of a group in which, however, there were many breakaways.
“The average of the first hour was very high, we rode very fast. We had Balazs in front in a very interesting move, but with the arrival of the most demanding terrain the race was blown up. The climb to Infanterie, which is very hard, was the finishing touch. A situation of strengths and states of form in which in the end everyone is in their place”, commented Isaac Cantón, the director of the Castellón race.
“I felt good throughout the day. At the beginning I was a bit scared of some downhills and I preferred to ride more relaxed, then I climbed up to the front to help my teammates and ride with more security in the peloton. Then a breakaway formed and I was able to stay in it, but in the final part I had no more legs to follow and they caught me from behind very close to the end”, explained Balazs Pollner.
