And Chetout does it again

Loïc Chetout showed he'll be a hard man to beat this season after taking win number two out of two possible in Lizarta on Saturday.

The speedy Frenchman got his campaign off to the best of starts last weekend by winning the Torneo Lehendakari opener in Ereño, and followed that up with another triumph in the same race series this weekend.

The Naturgas Energía rider, racing in the white jersey of overall series leader, bested Antonio Angulo of Baqué-Campos and Caja Rural's Jesús Albert Rubio at the end of 107 clicks in which the red and whites assumed control of the race for much of the day. According to the Basque Cycling Federation, a group of eight riders got away early on and opened up a decent gap, but Naturgas, with a little from Seguros Bilbao, reeled in the escapees in time to set Chetout up for the sprint. And, as can be seen from the picture above, he nailed that with relative ease.

Results (full results here):

• 1, Loïc Chetout (Naturgas Energía), 2:28:30
• 2, Antonio Angulo (Baqué-Campos), s.t.
• 3, Jesús Albert Rubio (Caja Rural), s.t.
• 4, Ion Iriarte (Gipuzkoa-Eki Sport), s.t.
• 5, Hector Sáez (Seguros Bilbao), s.t.
• 10, Víctor Etxeberría (Naturgas Energía), 0:15
• 12, Álvaro Trueba (Naturgas Energía), 1:50
• 20, Francisco Javier Martín (Naturgas Energía), s.t.
• 25, Alain Santamaría (Naturgas Energía), s.t.
• 37, Noel Gil (Naturgas Energía), 4:20
• 38, Alain González (Naturgas Energía), s.t.
• 41, Pablo Comins (Naturgas Energía), 4:45
• 68, Oier Sánchez (Naturgas Energía), 11:55

Photo: Karlis Medrano