Euskadi cyclo-cross champs

Egoitz Murgoitio was at his dominant best in today's Basque cyclo-cross championships in Llodio, crushing the opposition to take back to back golds. 'Best of the rest' was, again, Orbea's Aitor Hernández. The former Euskaltel man trailed the Hirumet Taldea star by a huge 1:16 upon crossing the line, but still did enough to hold off former winner Javier Ruíz de Larriñaga. It was the native of Ermua's second consecutive silver, having been bested by the impressive Murgoitio last year as well. Aketza Peña grabbed a noteworthy fourth, while Hernández's team-mate and mountain bike olympics hopeful Iñaki Lejarreta captured sixth. Elite results:

• 1, Egoitz Murgoitio
• 2, Aitor Hernández, 1:16
• 3, Javier Ruiz de Larriñaga, 1:36
• 4, Aketza Peña, 2:42
• 5, Erlantz Uriarte, 3:49

Not surprisingly, Jonathan Lastra took out the sub-23 win, pipping Iñigo Gómez on the line. The latter's brother, Jon, closed out the podium. As Lastra is a team-mate of Murgoitio's, the victory meant Hirumet Taldea took out the two biggest races. In addition, the team took out the Galician champs courtesy of Pablo Rodríguez. Former Naturgas Energía stalwart David Hidalgo finished just off the podium in fourth, while Debabarrena's Peio Goikoetxea snatched fifth in front of Jon Ander Insausti of Seguros Bilbao. Under-23 results:

• 1, Jonathan Lastra
• 2, Iñigo Gómez, s.t.
• 3, Jon Gómez, 3:21
• 4, David Hidalgo, 5:42
• 5, Peio Goikoetxea, 7:23

Again entirely as expected, Jonathan Bilbao of Gastronomia Baska-Avia was crowned regional junior champ. Bilbao, who's continuously sporting Euskaltel's old-style white and orange Catlike Whisper casco, bested Álex Aranburu and Eneko Corrales. Junior results:

• 1, Jonathan Bilbao
• 2, Álex Aranburu, 0:16
• 3, Eneko Corrales, 0:56
• 4, Aritz Hernández, 1:42
• 5, Xavier Goikoetxea 2:33

Among the women, Olatz Ordiozola came out tops in the elite category, while Eider Merino annihilated the junior field. For full results, click here.