Bagües shows promise in France

Aritz Bagües showed he's growing in stature as a professional bike rider by claiming a noteworthy fifth overall at the Boucles de la Mayenne in France last week.

David Veilleux of Europcar, so impressive at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, unsurprisingly came away with the overall win at the end of the four days of racing, while Euskadi's 23-year-old all-rounder ended up just four seconds off the podium in fifth.

Key to his general classification result was his eighth place on the hard second stage from Laval to Évron. Unai Iparraguirre's two top ten placings, not to mention Haritz Orbe's ninth on stage three, made it a race to remember for the Continenal-ranked outfit.

Team-wise, Euskadi ended up third.

Photo: Iñaki Azanza