José Antonio García and Alejandro Regueiro, fifth and tenth in the sprint of Azagra

Vuelta a Navarra
Stage 2: Lodosa – Azagra (144 km)

Now two seconds away from the red jersey, the Mallorcan Polartec-Kometa rider Joan Martí Bennassar is still in fourth position in the provisional general standings of the Vuelta a Navarra, which this Thursday, after its second stage, saw the change in leadership that went from the backs of Belgian Ruben Apers (Lotto Soudal U23) to Dani Viejo (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). It’s a matter of bonuses.

The Asturian finished third in the sprint that solved the second stage, a sprint where the Belgian Aaron Van Poucke (Lotto Soudal U23) won and in which two Polartec-Kometa riders finished in the top-10: José Antonio García, who finished fifth, and Alejandro Regueiro, tenth. The Madrid formation would end up finishing first place in teams on this second day.

The entry into play of the bonuses caused some movements in the general classification, promotions that delayed a place to Daniel Viegas, now fifteenth, Jose Antonio Garcia, seventeenth, and Carlos Garcia, twentieth.

Rafa Díaz Justo, director of the U23 formation: “In cycling, these days are called transition stages…, transition for those of us who ride in the car. On the bike, no transition at all. At the start of the race there was a very consensual escape, two cyclists who ended up being three and who rode for up to eight minutes. The platoon let it go, going sometime very quietly. Taking a puncture from Jose Antonio to 50 km to finish line goal, and another from Regueiro, whole team has rolled inside the package. Ten kilometers from the end it started to rain very hard. We’ve got ‘la mundial’. We were afraid of crashes or other incidents. It wasn’t like that. And in the sprint, a pure sprint, fifth place for Joselillo, which in this context, and in such a pure sprint, I consider a very good role”.

This Friday the Vuelta a Navarra will arrive at the Alzuza´s Oteiza Museum after 141 kilometres in which, in one of the great novelties of this edition, cyclists will have to take three zones on a one-kilometre stretch of sterrato in Ibiriku. The arrival of this third stage, moreover, takes place on a 2.3 km climb at an average slope of 6.8%.

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)