Sensational collective work in support of David Martín, finally sixth in Villanueva de Castellón
Memorial Momparler
Villanueva de Castellón – Villanueva de Castellón (163 km)
David Martín from Seville finished sixth this Saturday in an edition of the Momparler Memorial in which the leader of the Spanish Cup, Pau Miquel, won, and where the U23 structure of the Contador Foundation deployed a sensational collective work in favour of the interests of its fast man in a complex and demanding terrain as the one that the Levantine race has been proposing for some editions.
The ramps of El Campello dynamited the race. The passage through its demanding slopes, up to 18%, configured a situation of race in which seven riders were leading the race with thirty seconds over other 18 cyclists among which there was a triple representation of the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team: Arnau Gilabert, David Martín and Edu Pérez-Landaluce.
The subsequent terrain and the ascent to the Balcón de Valencia underpinned a race situation in which a breakaway of nine riders maintained an intense battle against a first main peloton in which worked hard and hard a U23 structure of the Contador Foundation, already regrouped after the descent, which could not count on the contribution of Arnau after a fall on the descent.
The advantage ranged between 40 seconds and a minute and a half as the race reached the climb to Santa Ana. There Pau Miquel, leader of the Cup, made his move and managed to get enough time to win the race in the streets of Villanueva de Castellón with 26 seconds over the group. David Martín finished in sixth place: “I’m not happy with the final result, in the sprint I was closed and I thought I was going to crash. But I’m happy because I’m getting through the passes and I feel that I’m continuing to mature as a rider. Once again we have to recognise the work of the whole team, because without the enormous work they have done all day it would not have been possible to be in the sprint”.
Martín is fourth overall in the Spanish Cup with 370 points, 270 points behind leader Pau Miquel and 96 points behind Sergio Trueba on the podium with three races (Circuito del Guadiana, Clásica de Primavera de Ontur, Clásica de Pascua de Padrón) to go.
Guillermo Gutiérrez, team manager at the Memorial Momparler: “A very hard and very demanding Memorial Momparler where the team has been at a great level, with a sensational collective work on a terrain that is not easy to set up chases. We didn’t hesitate to take on this responsibility without waiting for contributions from other teams. El Campello is a very tough climb and, as expected, it totally broke up the race”.
[📷 Víctor Serna / @letourmalet (1 y 3)]
