Two out of two for Pablo García closing the Copa de España on a perfect way
After starting the weekend with individual and team victories, Pablo García, Antonio González and Martín Barrero were part of the breakaway of the day. Despite being caught, they arrived with wining chances to the last kilometers and were able to sign the double with a brilliant García.
The race started with the ascent to the Alto da Groba (1st) which broke the race from very early on. Pablo García reached the summit in third position and Martín Barrero did the same on the Alto de Treba (3rd). It was at that moment when a breakaway of 18 riders was formed with the aforementioned García and Barrero plus Antonio González who would also score points in the mountain classification of the following summits and would take the special sprint of A Pasaxe and the summit of Alto de Galiñeiro (2nd).
Before starting the ascent to Monte Aloia (1st) the race had to be neutralised due to a serious fall and his subsequent transfer to hospital. When the race could resume the situation remained the same with the three representatives of the team in the lead of the race and Luca Bagnara and Gerard Cano in the group of the leaders of the Copa de España.
The leading riders got on well and rode together in a race that would exceed five hours of competition. Before the climb to La Fonte dos 100 anos two riders attacked and broke the hegemony of the breakaway. The breakaway was joined behind by a chasing group with the second classified in the overall of the Copa de España and his teammates. The race changed completely with a group of 40 riders chasing the leading duo with less than a minute’s advantage.
After the last pass and the 30 kilometres to the finish line, the duo was caught and the group arrived united in Vigo. Pablo García was able to form a small break with 4 riders and finish off his own work with a second victory of the weekend.
“I’m used to moving well at the end of races and I knew I had to anticipate. Whenever you surprise at a prudent distance from the finish line, there are always doubts behind. We took advantage of the moment to make that quartet, there was understanding, at the key moment there wasn’t any breaks and then all that was left was to play with the other break-mates”, explained Pablo García to the microphones after winning for the second consecutive day. “The race has been an emotional rollercoaster, there was an early breakaway that we didn’t expect, but seeing the people we were riding with we knew we could reach the finish line perfectly when we had 7 minutes over the main group until the race was neutralized”, summarized the cyclist from Madrid.
“The race was complicated, especially when we had to neutralize the race. We had three riders ahead and everything was looking good and from then on it got complicated. They caught the breakaway on the last climb and then the whole Cortizo team came with a very high level. We were pulling for many kilometres and managing the situation was difficult. We were lucky because Pablo is now super. We had studied the final kilometers and Pablo took advantage of it. Two out of two is a nice result to finish the Copa de España”, said Rafael Diaz Justo, director of the under-23 team at the end of the expedition in Galicia.
Photos: Ciclismo El Pelotón and Sportpublic TV
