Eighth place for Marcel Camprubí in a Ruota d’Oro in which the Spaniard and Fran Muñoz finished in the group of favourites
52ª Ruota D’Oro / 90° G.P. Festa del Perdono
Terranuova Bracciolini – Terranuova Bracciolini (173 km)
Rainy day in Tuscany to face a festive edition of the Ruota d’Oro of Terranuova Bracciolini in which the final victory, alone, was for the Frenchman Jordan Labrosse (AG2R-Citroën) and in which both Marcel Camprubí and Fran Muñoz completed an outstanding participation for the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team U23. Camprubí finished in the top ten, eighth at 29″, and Muñoz finished sixteenth, at 33″.
With an early breakaway of five riders practically gestated in the first ten kilometres, 2’20” for them to the edge of the kilometre 90, the passage by the halfway point of the race supposed a substantial increase of the pace in which the blue structure was very participant. Previously, the team of Dario Andriotto and Beppe de Maria had inserted Manuel Oioli in an intermediate movement that ended up reaching a head of the race that would later regroup. Thirty riders set off from the penultimate pass over the Cima Berna. And on the route to Piantravigne the Contador Foundation block imposed a strong selection pace that wreaked havoc on the group.
Apart from several accelerations and attempts, the tendency of the race at this stage was to stay grouped together and it appeared that way in the last twenty kilometres. With ten kilometres to go, however, on the winding roads around Monticello, Jordan Labrosse launched his bid, picked up a few seconds and managed to hold the gap in front of a small group of around fifteen riders, in which both Camprubí and Muñoz were riding. Labrosse arrived with a margin.
“Both Fran and I had very good legs today. It was a really crazy race, with lots of attacks, but in the end everything always came together again”, said Marcel Camprubí on the way to the hotel. “A day to learn a lot in which we have to keep the good form we showed, although we probably didn’t face the end well. On the penultimate of the climbs, Labrosse took off and it was very difficult to follow him. He was on a bike. Anders Foldager, who finished second in the end, moved soon after, although not very strong. I decided not to follow him, because we always came together again and I preferred to save the last eight kilometres for the final sprint. But it didn’t quite go the way I thought it would. Labrosse eventually came through, Foldager and then a group of fifteen riders in which I sprinted half as well. But we did it the other way round. I should have gone for the attacks and Fran should have been the trump card in the sprint. But, well, it’s a lesson we’ve learned”.
