Ninth place for Tommaso Bessega in the Trofeo Ayuntamiento de Zamora

The breakaway won the mass sprint in the 2023rd edition of the Trofeo Ayuntamiento de Zamora. A group of six riders took the lead of the race from the steep slopes and managed to consolidate their advantage and increase it to the minute with which they played for success. Fran Rus (Cortizo) took the win on the Avenida de la Feria in Zamora, while first-year rider Tommaso Bessega showed his speed with third place in the bunch sprint, the ninth of the race, once he was launched by his brother Gabriele. A day of great work by the Contador Foundation sextet.

It was the zone of the steep slopes that began to resolve this edition, with an offensive movement that ended up with the sextet that would play for the victory. Raúl López and Antonio González were decisively involved in these accelerations and were part of the vanguard, but the breakaway was being selected and could not be in the final sieve. Until then, on a windy afternoon that was sometimes head-on, a very lively pace and good work by the riders led on this occasion by Gorka Beloki and Isaac Cantón.

Tommaso Bessega: “The first part of the race was very calm, then on the first climb Raul and I moved and on the second Antonio and Raul did the same. Then I stayed calmer, in the group. It was a phase of constant fans due to the wind, we were very close together and only lacked that little bit at the end, but we did a good job”.

Raúl López: “It was quite windy in the race; in the first part it was head-on and it was a bit crazy to take a gamble there, but it was essential to be at the front and save any crashes that might occur. On the climbs, a more dangerous section, we were very close together. As the team had a more climbing profile, we pushed hard on the climb to Villalcampo to break up the bunch a bit. And from then on the race entered a phase of constant attacks, counterattacks, groupings and fans. On the second climb I moved with Antonio, then they took me off the pace and Antonio, who had just suffered a puncture with the heat of returning to the group, later. We tried to paddle to cut the small advantage of the breakaway and prepare the arrival to the Bessega, but it turned out to be impossible”.

The day did not start in the best way for the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team U23, as Haimar Etxeberria was not going to be able to count on in this and in the Gran Premio San José on Sunday. The Basque rider suffered some physical problems and, for precaution, it was decided not to force in Zamora.

[ ? Eriz Fraile / Trofeo Ayuntamiento de Zamora]