Riccardo Archetti 7th and best young rider in Castellón
The first challenge in the Volta Castelló came with two second category passes on the menu and a broken profile course. Gabriele Bessega was protagonist in one of the breakaways and Riccardo Archetti managed to be in the group that would fight for the stage victory. The Italian finished seventh and best young rider.
The 152-kilometre stage started at 15h under the good weather of the Mediterranean zone. From almost the beginning of the day, a breakaway was formed and quickly managed to open a big advantage over an impassive peloton. After a very relaxed start, the group increased the pace and managed to close the gap. A large counter-attack group was formed midway through the stage with the presence of five riders from the team: Riccardo Archetti, Gabriele Bessega, Gerard Cano, Bálint Feldhoffer and Alex García. Of the five, only Gabriele would make it to the front and form part of the second breakaway of the day for a large part of the stage. In the last 15 kilometres and before the last climb the attempt was neutralized and hostilities began.
Riccardo Archetti made it to the top of the Alto de Infantería (2nd) and attacked with just over two kilometres to go in search of his chances of wining. He was caught and in the bunch sprint he ended seventh and the best young rider of the stage.
“The stage wasn’t very hard, but it was very hot. Gabriele was in the breakaway with an advantage, but with 10 kilometres to go he was neutralized and on the final climb we were nine riders. I attacked on a downhill, but in the group there were two riders from Cortizo, Caja and the French team and they caught me. The sprint was on a small climb, but I was a bit tired from the attack and I’m not too fast and I was able to finish seventh. The whole team was good, concentrated and with good legs. We hope to recover well for tomorrow and the days to come‘ explained Archetti at the end of the first stage in the town of Villafamés and wearing the leader’s jersey of the young riders’ classification.
Miguel Gómez sports director of the team in the Volta Castelló was very satisfied with the attitude of the riders of the team: ‘They have been very active working. There was a breakaway with a six-minute lead, but when the pack pushed they easily reduced the gap, so it was clear that the race was in the bunch. At kilometre 60 there was a breakaway where we had five riders, so it was perfect and when they were caught Gabriele went ahead. The race was played out on the last climb with Archetti in the group that reached the finish. He attacked at two and a half kilometres and they caught him at 500 metres and he finished very happy”.
