Santiago Basso and Eleazar Jiménez finish among the best of the Vuelta al Besaya

The last stage of the Vuelta al Besaya was the day with the lowest mileage, but a very demanding day to close the race with the climbs to Brenes and Collado de Cieza. The team managed to finish with three riders in the top ten of the stage and with Iker Díaz winning the jersey of the best Cantabrian cyclist.

The stage took place in the rain, which further complicated a day that would completely change the Vuelta al Besaya. Iván Loaisa was very attentive from the start to the movements to form the breakaway, but at no time would any cyclist get enough advantage as a result of the control of the bunch. From the first ramps of the climb to Brenes (1st) the pace was very high. One rider went solo and only Santiago Basso managed to keep up with the pace of the leader’s group made up entirely of riders from the Acrog team. He was dropped from the leader’s group, but finished the climb with Eleazar Jiménez and Iker Díaz in the next group.

Despite the pace imposed to try to chase the yellow jersey, the differences were maintained and despite the fall suffered by the Italian Basso in the last kilometres, the three riders of the team reached the finish line together. Basso was eighth, Díaz ninth and Jiménez tenth. In addition, Basso managed to secure the fifth position in the general classification while Jiménez finished seventh and Iker Díaz won the jersey of the best cyclist of Cantabria thanks to his twelfth place in the general classification.

“In Brenes, the three riders were in a chasing group and they were pushing hard for the leader’s group, but they couldn’t make it. Four kilometres from the finish Santiago fell and they lost some time, but they did a great race”, explained Issac Cantón, satisfied after the last stage of the race.

Photo: Noemi Gonzalez