Ion Izagirre grabs silver in memory of Murguía

Jesús Herrada deprived Ion Izagirre and Euskaltel of what would have been an emotional triumph in the national road race championships in Bembibre, Castilla y León, on Sunday.

The classy young Movistar rider proved to be the strongest of the two after the pair had broken clear along with four others eight clicks from the line in the hilly nationals.

Izagirre and Herrada went on to distance their breakaway companions - Constantino Zaballa, David Arroyo, Ángel Madrazo and young Mikel Iturria of Team Euskadi - and were left to fight it out between them.

Izagirre, competing only hours after news broke through that Euskaltel masseur Rufino Murguía had passed away overnight, was left to settle for silver as Herrada succeeded in staying away after attacking under the red banner.

Euskaltel and the youngest of the two Izagirres were thus left to wonder what might have been, seeing the opportunity to grab the team's first ever road title slip away.

On a more positive side, though, he'll be relieved to get another confirmation his form is right where it should be with less than a week to go before his Tour de France debut.

Igor Antón and Mikel Nieve, set to lead the team over the border, both finished in the main group five seconds down. Garikoitz Bravo and Mikel Astarloza both spent parts of the day up ahead in various breaks.

Results (Team Euskadi riders in cursive):

• (Jesús Herrada (Movistar), 5:27:16)
• 2, Ion Izagirre, 0:02
• 7, Carlos Barbero, 0:07
• 9, Rubén Pérez, s.t.
• 10, Peio Bilbao, s.t.
• 13, Aritz Bagües, s.t.
• 23, Haritz Orbe, s.t.
• 25, Gorka Izagirre, s.t.
• 28, Igor Antón, s.t.
• 30, Mikel Nieve, s.t.
• 33, Juan José Oroz, s.t.
• 35, Mikel Astarloza, s.t.
• 37, Mikel Bizkarra, s.t.
• 40, Mikel Iturria, 0:13
• 52, Jon Larrinaga, 4:29
• 58, Juan José Lobato, 10:24
• 64, Unai Iparraguirre, 16:48
• 65, Pablo Urtasun, s.t.
• 67, Adrián Sáez, s.t.
• 68, Igor Merino, s.t.
• 69, Illart Zuazubiskar, s.t.