Sergio García and Alessandro Fancellu, vanguard of the Kometa-Xstra in the ascent to Bolca
Giro d´Italia U23
Stage 4: Bonferraro di Sorgà – Bolca (159,3 km)
The Giro d’Italia U23 is a highly competitive race. Each day brings a new adventure. This Tuesday, the first day of great demand for the presence of the route of the Passo del Branchetto, La Bettola, La Collina and Monte Bolca, a new revolution in the general. The British Thomas Pidcock won alone and took over the leadership. Sergio García and Alessandro Fancellu were the first riders of the Kometa-Xstra Cycling Team at the finish line, 26th and 27th, 2:53 from the winner.
The average speed of the first hour, 49.9 km / h, ventured that at the end of the day there would be differences. Some very competitive starts in pursuit of an escape that was not fully formed. The first breakaway would be consolidated on the ramps of the Branchetto, without much margin over a small group of some forty units where the continental structure of the Foundation had a fourfold presence: Alessandro Fancellu, Sergio García, Alejandro Ropero and Edu Pérez-Landaluce.
The race was broken off in the climb to La Collina, where runaway and offensive riders were mixed. The figures of Pidcock, Kevin Colleoni, Giovanni Aleotti, Sean Quinn and company emerged from this tough context. In a second group, the Kometa-Xstra runners, overturned with Alessandro Fancellu, rolled. The Italian is now fourteenth overall, at 3:40 from Pidcock, while Alejandro Ropero, still leading the general of the combined, is eighteenth at 4:22.
“The sensations have been very good”, said an Edu Pérez-Landaluce who finished 46th after a great job. “We passed the first port to four riders in the team and from there it was work and help for the team-mates. How was the experience of these days? Very happy. I am very comfortable with the team”.
Alejandro Ropero: “The race today was hard, very hard, and for my characteristics as a rider it was normal that it would end up taking its toll. We were four companions until the last climb and facing this one I tried to make a good approach to leave them in the best possible situation. After that, we had to resist. We continue to climb the podium hand in hand with the classification of the combined, although right now I am tied with the Lotto rider Henri Vandenabeele. But it is also a motivation to continue adding points and be there in front. We continue day by day and to see if we can make it beautiful in some more stages”.
The fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia U23 will connect Marostica and Rosà over a route of 132.7 kilometres that in large part runs along the same routes that a few days ago hosted the Italian Cycling Championships. It will not be a flat stage at all. The climb to Crosara will be followed by four passes through La Rosina, although the top of the last one is almost forty kilometres away.
? Isola Press
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
