Basque Crossers Abroad in France and Belgium

 
With this being a down week in Spanish cyclo-cross, Basque star Egoitz Murgoitio and his U23 teammate Jonathan Lastra went to the French Cup race in Besaçon while Javier Ruiz de Larrinaga ventured to Belgium to race in the Superprestige race and Asper-Gavere.

The U23 French Cup race included a deep field with 81 participants including U23 French champion Julien Alaphilippe, former Junior World Champion Clément Venturini and last year's French junior Champion Quentin Jauregui. Lastra was not able to follow the front group but was able to seperate himself from the rest of the field and finish 4th, 40" behind the winner Alaphilippe.

1. Julien Alaphilippe 52'25"
2. David Menut 02"
3. Quentin Jauregui 08"
4. Jonathan Lastra 40"
5. Clément Venturini 53"

Lastra's Hirumet-Taldea star teammate Egoitz Murgoitio was able to race against a stronger field than usual and finished in 7th, 1'26" behind a flying Francis Mourey (FDJ-BigMat).

1. Francis Mourey 1h03'04"
2. Guillaume Perrot 22"
3. John Gadret 1'05"
4. Nicolas Bazin 1'11"
5. Julien Roussel 1'20"
6. Romain Lejeune 1'26"
7. Egoitz Murgoitio s.t.

 Javier Ruiz de Larrinaga, who is coming back from a weekend off after crashing, raced on a very muddy and slick course at Asper-Gavere in Belgium but like nearly half the field, had to pull out.

Photo: DeportesOnline