Murgoitio outduels Hernández at Itsasondo

Egoitz Murgoitio (Hirumet-Taldea) came alive once again in Euskadi and trounced his in form rival Aitor Hernández (Orbea) at the Itsasondo XIII Ziklo Krosa, the penultimate race in the Superprestigio series, to beat him into 2nd place by 57 seconds. Murgoitio, who up until this week has had a rather frustrating season field with crashes and low results, has now beaten Hernández for a 2nd straight race, after beating him at the mid-week UCI C2 race in Asteasu.

Murgoitio once again took the race by the scruff of the neck early on but Hernández, who has had 9 wins in Euskadi this year, including a pair of Murgoitio, was up for the challenge on the soft, heavy course and was able to follow on the early laps along with a stubborn Constantino Zaballa. Murgoitio and Hernández were both able to eventually drop Zaballa but were not able to shake each other until later in the race. Murgoitio made his acceleration with 4 laps to go while Hernández was able to just follow in his wake until 2 laps to go, when the former Euskaltel rider exploded and had to recover. Murgoitio was able to stretch his advantage to a comfortable 57" seconds and extend his Superprestigio lead over Hernández to 9 points. Javier Ruiz de Larrinaga (MMR-Spuik) was able to recover from an early mechanical to overtake Spanish champion Isaac Suarez (Bio-Racer Caravanas) for the final podium spot.

Elite Men results:

• 1. Egoitz Murgoitio (Hirumet-Taldea) 1:01:14
• 2. Aitor Hernández (Orbea) +57"
• 3. Javier Ruiz de Larrinaga (MMR-Spuik) +2'01"
• 4. Isaac Suarez (Bio-Racer Caravanas) +2'25"
• 5. Constantino Zaballa (Zugor) +2'56"
• 6. Erlantz Uriarte +3'15"
• 7. Josep Betalú s.t.
• 8. Aketza Peña s.t.
• 9. Jonathan Lastra (Hirumet-Taldea) (U23 winner) +4'35"
• 10. Antonio Suarez +4'59"

In other results. Rocio Gamonal handidly beat Olatz Odriozola by 1'15" in the elite women's race. Junior Alex Aranburu was able to take the top step today in the junior men's race after his loss in Asteasu while Alicia Gonzalez beat Leire Lekuona by 46 seconds to take the junior women's title.

Tomorrow is the 36th edition of the famed Igorre cyclocross race and for the first time in nearly 25 years, a Spanish racer will most likely win the race, which was demoted this year from a World Cup race to a UCI C2 race. Nevertheless, Igorre is an important race to Basque and Spanish cyclocross and it will be filled with some action packed racing.

Photo: Iñaki Azanza