Larrinaga close in Llodio

Jon Larrinaga put on a brave performance in yesterday's Torneo Euskdalun-race in Llodio. The youngster, a veteran of the team, got into the break of the day early on, and it proved to be a wise move as his group for once stayed away all the way to the line. He eventually had to settle for fifth, though, a mere 23 seconds down on victor Montenegro. Merino wasn't far off either, coming home 11th at just 28 seconds. Álex Bilbao grabbed a decent 17th at 1:44, while Alain González and Karl Baurdon came in side by side 8:06 in arrears. Rory Martínez and Saturday's hero Grijalba did the same 8:28 back. Post-race, Aritz Arberas was happy and rightly so, with his riders, and pointed out that the team finished second in the team rankings as well.