Two good results place Santiago Basso third overall

The second day of competition in the Volta ao concelho de Loulé brought two new good results for the junior team. The stage was divided into two sectors; first an 11-kilometre time trial through the streets of Loulé and in the afternoon a stage with a very similar profile to the first day.

The time trial served to demonstrate the great form of the Pan-American champion of the discipline Robinson Rincón who got the 7th position after starting at the beginning of the race after the fall suffered yesterday. José Miguel Moreira finished 10th and Santiago Basso was again the best representative of the team finishing in 4th place. Eleazar Jimenez suffered a fall in the last meters that deprived him of a better result.

The second sector was very fast and the race was very controlled. The peloton of about 60 riders reached the sprint with all the team riders in the leading group except for Robinson Rincon who again suffered bad luck and a crash and subsequent breakdown caused him to be dropped. The team worked to place Basso on the bunch and he finished in a remarkable 5th place.

In the overall standings Basso is in 3rd place at the same time as the second rider, but far behind the winner of the first two stages and leader of the race. Moreira is part of the tight top10 of the race in 9th position with Eleazar Jimenez in 15th.

Isaac Cantón, the team director, explained his feelings at the end of a long day: “The day went well, with the riders working as a team and with a good feeling from everyone. Tomorrow is the queen stage, so we have to recover and give everything”.

Santiago Basso as the best rider of the team in the classification: “The sensations at the beginning of the time trial were not the best because when I started the wind was very strong, but in the second part I recovered a lot. In the afternoon stage, however, the feeling was excellent, with perfect legs. It was a pity because I couldn’t sprint better because I was a bit closed. Tomorrow will be the last stage and I’m very confident”.