After several months of sports break forced by confinement due to Covid-19, road cycling finally returned. And he did it in style for one of the teams sponsored by Essax.
Josu Etxeberria wins the Return to Zamora after months of confinement, achieving a great victory for the subsidiary of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA. He managed to rise to that position especially thanks to the great victory in the queen stage that took place on July 17. But not satisfied with that, he also won the prizes for flying goals and best under-23.
Securing the yellow jersey obtained a day earlier was the team's premise in the last stage, and from the beginning a race was planned with different attacks by the teams interested in attacking the leadership. Once the first attacks after the launched start were controlled, a group of runners managed to escape on the ascent to Palazuelo, distancing themselves from the leader by about fifty seconds. Despite an untimely breakdown, the leader was able to reconnect quickly thanks to the good work of the entire group, causing the difference to fall little by little until the leak was neutralized.
A few kilometers later, another large group formed in the lead that once again tried to overtake the leader, but the differences were acceptable to the chasing group and after each pass they were smoothed out. Finally, the stage fell to Raúl García (LIZ) while the general classification did not change hands and neither did Josu Etxeberria. Like the entire team, they closed four days at a high level in Zamora.
From the mouths of the protagonists themselves:
Josu Etxebarría: “It has been a very complicated day. Chasing the whole stage and the truth is that at any time there was no way he could have escaped the race. We arrived at the start with the objective of winning the overall and thanks to the team we were able to achieve it, without them it would have been impossible. “I am very happy with the result, it is my first overall but I want to continue going day by day.”
Roberto Martínez (director of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA): “The idea was to control from the beginning, but Josu's breakdown has forced us to chase all day. I highly value the work of the entire team, I give them an eleven. “They have been able to overcome the attacks and have supported Josu perfectly.”
