Alé BTC Ljubljana was immediately a protagonist in the V Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, a stage race in category 2.1. that started today in Spain. Beautiful second place of the Spanish champion Mavi Garcia at the end of 125 km from Barxeta to Gandía. Only European champion Annemiek Van Vleuten was able to break away from the Spaniard and go on to win the stage alone.
The two emerged from the peloton on the penultimate of the day’s four climbs (Alto Barxeta), caught up with Omer Shapira (Canyon-SRAM) who had spent much of the day on the attack, broke away and then rode in tandem up the final climb. Here Van Vlauten got the better of them and stretched out towards the finish. Mavi Garcia fought hard against the Dutch star and held on to this excellent second place.
Earlier in the day, Russian Anastasiia Chursina had also shown herself to be one of a small group of eight riders who, halfway through the race, chased after Shapira and Franz who were leading the race. Tatiana Guderzo finished in the top 20 of the day.
After the finish Mavi Garcia said: “I’m very happy with this placement. It’s a very important result on the roads of my home country of Spain. I tried my best and I’m happy with this second place. Today was a very difficult day, after the cold weather in the north it was the first race we had to face in very hot weather. Living in Mallorca I was already accustomed to this climate and maybe this also helped me today. There are still three stages left and I will try my best every day”.
Tomorrow the second stage, 130 km, from Castellón de la Plana to Vila-Real, a very demanding day.
THE STAGES:
06/05 – Stage 1 | Barxeta – Gandía (km 125)
07/05 – Stage 2 | Castellón de la Plana – Vila-Real (km 130)
08/05 – Stage 3 | Sagunto – Valencia (km 107)
09/05 – Stage 4 | Finestrat – Alicante (km 114)
The race can be followed live on the local TV channel À Punt: https://www.apuntmedia.es/
(ph. @SetmanaCiclista)