The Spanish david valeronumber one in the world ranking, finished in 20th place in the short cross-country test where he started this Friday World CupIn the town of new townin the Czech Republic.
Despite the fact that sprint tests are not the specialty of the Andalusian from the BH Coloma Team, and that this is the beginning of the season, Valero had a good race and in the first half he stayed close to the leaders.
But he experienced a “hook” with another rider and he was delayed at the back of the pack, where he climbed to 20th position, where he will start Sunday in the third row of the long race, in the What more points are at stake?
One who did not disappoint was the British Thomas Pidcock, who imposed his moment of form to win; The Ineos cyclist invested 20 minutes and 17 seconds in completing 11 laps of the circuit where he finished at a high speed, impossible for his rivals to follow.
This is how he went from the back of the pack, where he started, to the top positions in the latter part of the test.
In that final stage, he had a good fight with New Zealander Samuel Gaze (Alpecin), who reached the finish line a second later, while German Lucas Schwarzbauer was third, also a second after the win.
Among the cross country specialists, the best were the Swiss Mathias Fluckiger and Nino Schurter, fourth and fifth, respectively, just two seconds behind the winner.
In the opposite dynamic to the winner, Valero started in front, because it corresponds to him by ranking, but in the middle of the test he gave up a lot of ground after a “hook”; but then he showed a good moment of form with a comeback that helped him finish in 20th place, 11 seconds behind the winner.
In addition, despite this position, he has finished the chasers of the world general, the Frenchman Caroud and the Chilean Vidaurre, who will start him in the test on Sunday, in the third row.
The other two Spaniards in the test did not adapt well and had more cautious results; David Campos (Orbea) finished 35th, 29 seconds behind the winner and Pablo Rodríguez, Valero’s BH Coloma Team teammate, finished 38th, more than a minute behind.
In the women’s race, Spanish Rocío del Alba García (BH Coloma Team) was 34th at the finish line, 49 seconds behind the winner, Austrian Laura Stigger (Specialized), who took 19 minutes and 2 seconds to complete the race .
Source: La Verdad
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