The breakaway completes its adventure at the Llucena finish and Javi Serrano takes third place in the group sprint
39ª Volta a Castellón
Stage 1: Les Alqueries – Llucena (139,5 km)
The breakaway triumphed. The Israeli Roi Weinberg (Israel Cycling Team) won this Friday the first stage of the Volta a Castellón in which he beat his compatriot Omer Lahav (Drone Hopper) in the fight for the victory. The two managed to make good a breakaway that started near La Torre d’ En Besora, around the 86th kilometre of the stage, and managed to defend a maximum income of a minute and a half. The chasing peloton was finally unable to break the breakaway and crossed the finish line twenty seconds later, led by Javi Serrano from Madrid.
After a very intense first hour of racing with many breakaway attempts from the initial flag, five riders (Vanderbulcke, 41; Tessiore, 52; Bennassar, 64; Riera, 136 and Van Cauwenberghe, 141) managed to give more consistency to a movement that faced the big climb of the day, Sierra Engarcerán. Their breakaway would reach its end after this high point and before a race situation in which the peloton split into two groups. David Domínguez, Ramón Fernández and Serrano himself rode for EOLO-KOMETA in the leading group.
Javi Serrano: “The breakaway fought hard and today they got away with it. It was a pity that in the end they didn’t manage to bring down the breakaway, because I felt good and I had very good legs. The day before we had taken the opportunity to see what the finish was like and the truth is that I liked it a lot, because it was very steep uphill and it’s a terrain that usually suits me. The stage was not easy at all, with a lot of fighting and with a terrain that generated a lot of wear and tear. But that’s how this sport is and we’re going to keep fighting day by day”.
This Saturday comes the queen stage of the Castellón round. The traditional Trofeo Penyagolosa has one of the most demanding designs of the category, although it may not seem so at first glance. The orography of the Maestrazgo is always very hard and the final chain of climbs to Benafligos and Vistabella concentrate a lot of hardness.
📷 @cxcling / Volta Castellón
