Gorka Izagirre and Matej Mohoric crowned national champions
The riders of the BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM were in winning mood at national road championships held in various European countries this weekend: Both Gorka Izagirre and Matej Mohoric were crowned national road champions, and additional podium results were achieved in the time trial championships of Spain and Lithuania.
At the Spanish road championships the brothers Ion and Gorka Izagirre rode a tactically mature race with Ivan Cortina in support. At first the brothers of the BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM kept their powder dry when a group of thirteen riders built a lead of up to 15 minutes. At the beginning of the final local loop around the town of Benicassim, Ion Izagirre made his move: He was one of the driving forces to get back at the day’s early attackers on the first climb of the local loop. When Alejandro Valverde gave chase from the group of favourites, Gorka Izagirre leapt to his wheel and launched his decisive attack as the descent to the finish started. The Basque rider kept his chasers at bay courageously, clinching the first national championship of his career. Two days earlier Gorka Izagirre had finished the national time trial championships in 2nd - posting a time one second faster than his brother Ion in third.
In Slovenia, the BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM fielded a strong team at the national road championships. These were ridden as fifteen laps on a loop of twelve kilometers with a 1.5 kilometer long climb around the town of Mirna Pec. Matej Mohoric went on the attack with his team mate Domen Novak, and these two riders in red, gold and dark blue built a lead of over seven minutes on the way to the finish. There was no sprint for the win: Domen Novak let Matej Mohoric cross the finish line first to win his first national title and the third individual win of the season. Since Luka Pibernike managed to distance the group of chasers on the run-in to the finish line the BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM took all three places on the podium.
Ramunas Navardauskas made it to the podium twice at the Lithuanian national road championships: At first he finished the individual time trial in 2nd and in Sunday’s road race he was only beaten by Gediminas Bagdonas to score another 2nd place. While these national championships were held the first edition of the Adriatica Ionica stage race came to an end as well. While the BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM missed out on any spectacular results, Yukiya Arashiro, Chun-kai Feng and Meiyin Wang all made it into the group of the day on consecutive days, and Antonio Nibali showed a decent performance in the Queen’s stage that finished atop the Passo Giau. And just a couple of days earlier Matej Mohorioc had delivered a surprisingly strong performance at the Tour of Slovenia, finishing the Queen’s stage in 2nd and the race in 3rd against strong competition.
National Spanish championships, road race:
1. Gorka Izagirre, ESP/BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM, in 5:07.50 hours
2. Alejandro Valverde, ESP, + 0.09
3. Omar Fraile, ESP, st
Individual time trial:
1. Jonathan Castroviejo, ESP, in 47.46 minutes
2. Gorka Izagirre, ESP/BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM, + 0.37
3. Ion Izagirre, ESP/BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM, + 0.38
National Slovenian championships, road race:
1. Matej Mohoric, SVN/BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM, in 4:43.38 hours
2. Domen Novak, SVN/BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM, st
3. Luka Pibernik, SVN/BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM, + 7.07
National Lithuanian championships, road race:
1. Gediminas Bagdonas, LTU
2. Ramunas Navardauskas, LTU/BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM
Individual time trial:
1. Gediminas Bagdonas, LTU, in 38.53 minutes
2. Ramunas Navardauskas, LTU/BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM, + 1.14
3. Evaldas Siskevicius, LTU, + 2.12
Image Slovenia: prijavim.se
( Press Release Image: https://photos.webwire.com/prmedia/7/225770/225770-1.jpg )
WebWireID225770
This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.
News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.