Victory and leadership for Pablo Garcia in the Volta a Galicia

The second day of the Volta a Galicia was practically perfect for the under-23 team. Pablo García won the stage and took the lead of the race while Antonio González was fourth and new leader of the king of the mountains prize. The Madrid-born rider took his sixth win of the season.

The race started with a very high pace as the riders attacked to form the breakaway. Manuel Sanroma and Martín Barrero were very active in these attacks trying to form part of these front groups. Gabriele Bessega was also very combative and after being third and first in the first two intermediate sprints of the day, he consolidated his position at the top of the classification. After the second intermediate sprint of the stage, a group was formed with the team in the lead. Two of our riders rode ahead with a very active Gonzalez, third in the first pass through Montan (3rd). Before the third and last intermediate sprint three more riders of the team arrived to the group that was leading the race with Pablo García among them, who would fight and would achieve an extra second in the passage through Sarria.

Starting the last of the two laps to Montan the team, with Martín Barrero, Sanroma, Daniel Tenorio and the aforementioned González and García, fought to increase the gap over the bunch. Antonio González responded to a strong attack and rode for several kilometers in the lead. Pablo García joined the group to form a leading quintet. On the final ascent to Montan (3rd) a cyclist gave up and that was the moment when it was formed the quartet that would fight for the victory in Sarria. Towards the finish line, Gonzalez himself prepared the terrain and Pablo Garcia took the victory and the yellow jersey. Likewise, Antonio González as leader of the mountains and Gabriele Bessega as leader of the intermediate sprints, also climbed to the podium.

Pablo García: “My goal was to get here well to compete for the overall. I knew it was going to be the team’s last race in the category and I wanted to repay the confidence they have put in me by giving them the Volta a Galicia. It has been a difficult process mentally to recover, I think I’ve done it, I’m in good shape and I’ve been able to prove it. In the climb that I linked with the head of the race has been thanks to my teammates who have accelerated the race. I think we all want to finish on a high note and I hope that tomorrow and the day after we’ll be in the same shape”.

Antonio González: “We did a great job as a team and in the end we were majority and we were able to fight for the victory. Garchu is a killer and was the strongest in the breakaway. Obviously I would have liked to win, but the important thing was for the team to win”.

Rafael Díaz Justo: “It was a long stage, very fast from the start to the finish. We were in several cuts throughout the stage. I had the intention of disputing the intermediate sprints with Bessega and he had a good fight on that. Towards the end there was a leading bunch with Sanroma, Tenorio and Martín, but I needed Pablo to get there with them for the general classification. It worked out well for us. Today it came out on top, but that’s not always the case. The race is very tight and there are two tough days left.”