Euskaltel shine in San Sebastián

Euskaltel enjoyed a great day in front of their fans in yesterday´s Pro Tour one-day race Clasica San Sebastián. In short, Euskaltel had three men in the break of the day, placed two in the top 10 and finished 2nd in the team rankings.

The break of the day went after approximately 30 kilometres, and contained no less than three Euskaltel riders. Rubén, Dioni and Jon all made the cut, and gave Euskaltel presence in the race throughout. During the day, Jon had clearly set his mind on winning the mountains classification. He got max points on three out of six climbs, but, sadly, José Luis Arrieta took 10 points atop the Jaizkibel and therefore got away with that win. Jon came second in that competition, which is after all a great result. The break thinned out as the kilometres went by, and with some 17 to go, they were all reeled back in. The attacking from the favourites had already started at the feared Jaizkibel, with Euskaltel riders in the middle of it all the time. Though, the eventual successful break got clear on the descent of the Gurutze, the last climb of the day. Bertagnolli beat Garate in the sprint for the win, with Alejandro Valverde leading home Ballan, Barredo, our own Mikel and Sastre for 3rd place at only 18 seconds. Ten seconds back came Iñigo to claim 8th ahead of Florencio. Gorka also had great legs yesterday, and came home 18th, while Haimar, who looked so strong all day, came home 23rd. Further down Samu was 105th and Rubén 107th.

It was great to see so many of the Euskaltel riders still riding strongly after the Tour, and even though Samu didn´t have the legs this time round, be sure to see him in great shape for the Vuelta. Aupa Euskaltel!