“The route was quite complicated and the last climb to Turr\u00f3n Duro was quite demanding”
Spanish Cycling Championship 2021
Route men
La Nucía – La Nucía (183,4 km)
The geography of Alicante never disappoints when it comes to looking for toughness and the road race of the Spanish Championships, held this Sunday, proved it once again. In just 190 km, more than 4,600 metres of accumulated height gain. A lot of difficulty in an edition with start and finish in the locality of La Nucia in which the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team participated with Sergio García, Arturo Grávalos, Alejandro Ropero, Diego Pablo Sevilla and the elite of the u23 structure Eduardo Pérez-Landaluce.
A very hard race that appealed to the strength of the blocks. With no presence in the breakaway formed at the start, despite attempts to be there, on the second and final ascent to the hard Alto de Turrón Duro Arturo Grávalos, a repeat offender in this kind of race, broke away in search of the head of the race. A crucial phase of the race, in which there were many attacks and counterattacks and in which the peloton was very selective. Barely twenty riders remained at the front, in a spiral of attacks and regroupings that continued until the end.
Ropero, 43rd, who arrived in a group more than seven minutes behind the winner Omar Fraile, was the best classified. “A really hard race. Very hard, very hot and very humid”. “The championships were really tough, there are no words. In addition to the humidity, the course was a real leg breaker. We ran together at all times, trying to be as far ahead as possible and resist when the moment of truth arrived. We couldn’t get any further ahead. Now it’s time to think about what’s next”, said Arturo Grávalos.
“It was a tough day, the course was quite complicated and the last climb to Turrón Duro was quite demanding. For my part, both Sergio and I were a kilometre and a half away from the finish with the front group. Then we went all out, but we weren’t able to catch up again; on the contrary, they caught up with us from behind. The truth is that I’m a bit sad, because in that little group at the front there’s always another option. But these things are like that and we have to keep going”, says Diego Pablo Sevilla.
Eduardo Pérez-Landaluce from Asturias competed with the ProTeam: “It was a very nice experience. In the last pass through Turrón Duro everything broke down. In the end I was able to join a group with Sevilla, Ropero and Sergio and we tried to help as much as possible, as the director had asked us to do”.
[ PhotoGomezSport]
