Should make for an exciting race indeed. It's not the hardest course, so the out-and-out climbers will have to put some time into Tom Dumoulin. Otherwise, he might end up on the podium again, like last year. Full startlist to be revealed after the National Championships!
Francesc Palmero travelled to Táchira, the westermost province of his home country Venezuela. Close to the Colombian border, he faced a bumpy course in the regional city of San Cristóbal.
The short, pan flat time trial on Ruta 96 in Uruguay took Manuel MartÃnez to the local town of Villa Soriano. It is known for its picturesque pier on the RÃo Grande.
Only two riders showed up, and Manuel was the last starter. In the end, he was clearly stronger than Ponce.
1
Manuel MartÃnez
RuralvÃa-RTPi Pro Team
17'32"
2
Alejandro Ponce
AWT GreenWay
+ 18"
Campeonato do Brasil - ITT
52.3 kms
Ednaldo Luiz Cortes flew to Rio de Janeiro, where the organisation used the course from the 2016 Summer Olympics for the National Championships.
It's a hard but also scenic route, which led by the unspoiled beaches of the Grumari neighborhood. Six climb, not all equally hard, awaited the riders.
Ednaldo started off a little conservatively, which was reflected in the fact that Palmeiro was faster than him at the first intermediate point.
From there, it was clear our man had handled the course well. His eventual second consecutive win was a clear one.
The former didn't have his best day and ended up being caught by the rider that started behind him.
Top favourite Cerezo set a pace he could still improve on the first half of the course. He wanted to keep something back for the tough uphill finish. Amador, his main rival for the win, was 2" faster than him half way.
At the line, the difference was bigger than we anticipated. Angel secured his very first pro win after more than an hour of hard labour.
Vitor was our first man to leave the start ramp. The moment he crossed the line, he set a new fastest time. Soon after that, SÃlvio Macedo bettered it.
Sam Vandenborre travelled home to Belgium, but he decided against participating in the time trial. He's still dealing with a back injury, and he chose not to jeopardize the small chance of being able to take part in the road race, which is held very close to his home.
Enrico Battaglin, Fiorenzo Colla, Edoardo Zardini and Federico Zurlo headed to Gabicce, a seaside town near San Marino divided in Gabicce Monte and Gabicce Mare.
On the bumpy roads, none of them stood a real chance. Ironically Federico, the worst climber of them all, was our top finisher in 36th place, almost 2' down.
Andrea Vendrame had the best time for a while until it was bettered by all rounder Felline first. Ulissi beat the latter's time, but he was denied the win by his team mate Moreno Moser.
After that, nobody could do anything about Moser securing the jersey for Team INEOS. Not even former world champion Adriano Malori.
Campos put in a solid ride. Not good enough to compete for the win, but our 21 year old was happy with his performance.
At the back of a disappointing showing in Tour de Suisse, Ion Izagirre was eager to perform better here. He set the fastest time at the two intermediate points, but couldn't keep his pace on the final third. He failed to beat Castroviejo's time at the line.
Eventually, Castroviejo was beaten by Cuadros, who made it two wins in a row.
Even if not fully recoverd yet, Sam chose to take part in the road race. It was held in his home province, West Flanders, on a route consisting of 9 laps. Each of them contained two climbs, Catsberg and Zwarteberg.
Lotto-Soudal controlled the pace all day long, but they didn't put the hammer down until the last lap. Sam lost contact with 6 kms to go, when a breakaway was still out there. They were caught right in time though.
Lotto's Jasper Stuyven launched way too early, and still just one man was able to pass him. Roy Jans got the prestigious jersey for him and his ambitious Sport Vlaanderen team.
1
Roy Jans
Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise
5h34'41
2
Jasper Stuyven
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
3
Jens Keukeleire
Deceuninck - Quick Step
s.t.
4
Tosh Van der Sande
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
5
Yves Lampaert
Deceuninck - Quick Step
s.t.
6
Jürgen Roelandts
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
7
Jenthe Biermans
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
8
Greg Van Avermaet
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
9
Stig Broeckx
Cibel
s.t.
10
Michael Van Staeyen
Deceuninck - Quick Step
s.t.
…
23
Sam Vandenborre
RuralvÃa-RTPi Pro Team
+ 2'12"
Campionato d'Italia - Road Race
246.6 kms
Our Italians travelled further north for their road race. In the Veneto, a course with 15 ascents waited for them. The climb featured was the least steep section of Passo Manghen, the first 5 kms or so.
Fiorenzo Colla fought for a spot in the breakaway. He made it in, and was the strongest man of it on the penultimate lap.
In a soaking wet finale, Fiorenzo was caught. Enrico and Edoardo couldn't follow the attacks of the favourites.
Andrea Fedi was alone on the last top. Felline and Conti almost caught up again, but the line came just in time. From the next group, Enrico and Edoardo came 6th and 7th respectively.
Heading into the last lap, rain finally stopped falling down. Ruben was our only man in the front group, accompanied by an army of W52, LA Aluminios and Boavista riders.
Well, except for Guerreiro then, as he made his move near the top. He took a small lead into the cobbled descent.
It's not the best idea to take risks on cobblestones rain has fallen upon for most of the day, but Ruben stayed on his bike and won the Portuguese Championships for the first time. It's his third win of the year, making this his most succesful season ever already.
Campos and Izagirre flew from Mallorca to Salamanca to join the others for the road race. The local circuit was not very hard but the sprinters were expected to struggle.
When the break got caught with two laps to caught, Ruben Fernández and Carlos Verona got away. The two big teams had a man out front, so it was up to us to react now.
Chávarri rode his heart out for a full lap, but on the last climb Barbero knew he had to attack to stand a chance.
Fernandez had dropped Verona on the last climb but he came back. The pace dropped and Barbero caught up too. Their lead was big enough, so our man sat up in third place.
Verona was done pretty early but Fernández was quite fast. Barbero did it though! That's the Spanish jersey we've been waiting for so long! What a moment for Barbero to win his first race this year.
Great job. Missed out in the TTs but I think the Road races are more important and you also managed to win the two most important ones for your team! Congrats!
valverde321 wrote:
Great job. Missed out in the TTs but I think the Road races are more important and you also managed to win the two most important ones for your team! Congrats!
Tamijo wrote:
Spain & Portugal simply could not be better, congratulation
Thank you both! Very much looking forward to have these jerseys in the team for a year. Felt particularly excited about winning in Spain, as it required some out of the box thinking, would never have made it without the attack.
Random fun fact:
It's the first time some rider(s) of us get to wear a NC jersey of a European country after winning their road race for our team. The only man who had done so earlier was Heiner Parra (Colombia), back in 2016.
Both Oliveira and Ion Izagirre were the current national champion when they joined our team.
Sebastian Henao, NehemÃas Padilla, Diego Ochoa, Dayer Quintana and Juan Sebastian Molano made a trip to Duitama, some 150 kms north of Bogotá. The route was the same as the one used for the 1995 World Championships.
Ochoa joined the break of the day, because he knew the climb was a little too long for his liking.
The big guns' teams wouldn't chase, and Diego couldn't keep up in front. Aguirre attacked on the second to last lap. On the last, he to let go of Cotito as well.
The thin climber Aguirre won the jersey for Efapel. Cotito held on for second, as Diego was swept up by the pack. Dayer Quintana won the sprint for third.
1
Hernán Aguirre
Efapel
7h32'56"
2
Marcelo Cotito
Meridiana Kamen Team
+ 1'54"
3
Dayer Quintana
RuralvÃa-RTPi Pro Team
+ 2'27"
4
Jarlinson Pantano
Manzana Postobon Team
s.t.
5
Bernardo Suaza
Movistar Team
s.t.
6
Julian Arredondo
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
7
Paul Furer
Manzana Postobon Team
s.t.
8
Esteban Chaves
Utsunomiya Blitzen
s.t.
9
Rodrigo Contreras
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
10
Miguel Angel Lopez
Deceuninck - Quick Step
s.t.
Campeonato de Uruguay - Road Race
218 kms
Manuel MartÃnez could stay in Villa Soriano, as the road race also took place there.
The race almost felt like a city criterium, passing through the narrow streets in the city. With only two riders present, it made next to no sense to attack. After 216 kms, the two sprinted for the jersey.
Manuel fellow sprinter after six very strange hours. But who cares, if it means you'll get to wear a nice jersey for at least 12 months.
And those hills were ruthless, as can be seen in the picture. Santiago Vales lit up the race on lap two. Mendigain countered his attack, and the two of them got away. No reaction behind, so they would fight for the jersey.
Vales was a dangerous man to battle in a sprint, so Andrónico tried to shake him on the hills. The very last one was where Vales cracked. Two out of two for us in Costa Rica, as the other riders didn't make the time limit.
1
Andrónico Mendigain
RuralvÃa-RTPi Pro Team
6h43'56"
2
Santiago Vales
Team Hurom
+ 1'29"
Campeonato do Brasil - Road Race
Ednaldo Luiz Cortes failed to let us know where Brazil's road race took place, just that he wasn't exactly looking forward to the mountainous route, which featured 2,963 altimeters.
The others aren't very good climbers themselves, so everything stayed together until just before the final climb. Ednaldo used a dead moment to attack. No one reacted, so on the last climb it was just him and the steep slopes. Just like MartÃnez, Ednaldo's going to wear the national jersey in all races.
Lots of colourful NC jerseys to wear, a shame that there is so little competition in some nations. Come on, Costa Rica and Uruguay, breed a few more cyclists.
Ripley wrote:
Lots of colourful NC jerseys to wear, a shame that there is so little competition in some nations. Come on, Costa Rica and Uruguay, breed a few more cyclists.
I totally feel you, even though I still prefer a race with few riders over using an editor.
I've been thinking about increasing the weight of certain regions, but I don't want the field to be swamped by South American riders either, especially 'cause there are so few Latin teams or races.
We've already had a Bolivian and now a Brazilian cobbler. I might edit the chance of this happening in the DB, so the new riders do focus on mountainous races. I'd love to hear someone else's view on this frankly.
sutty68 wrote:
Five National Champions on the road, very nice indeed
nice
National Championships - Latin America 
National Championships - Europe 
Team Sparebanken Sor
