Ismael Sánchez became this Saturday the great winner of the fifth stage of the 44th edition of the Independence Cycling Tour, a day that took place on the Santiago-Navarrete-Puerto Plata-la Cumbre-Santiago route, which had a route of 136.5 kilometres.
Once again, the de la Vega native made the most of the first stage in the mountains and used his customary race pace to seize it and at the end raise his arms in sign of success.
Three mountain awards had the stage in which last year’s monarch of the Cycling Tour dominated and a total of five times champion of this event, which this year has a special dedication to Dr. Milton Ray Guevara, president of the Constitutional Court.
The victory in the stage for the representative of Team La Vega already places him among the top ten classified, 3.17 minutes behind the leader of the Vuelta that César Sanabria remains, when this Sunday the second day is held in the mountains that includes the Moca route – Santiago- La Vega- Constanza.
This day is precisely the one in which Ismael achieves his best race pace, given his status as a great climber, it is quite a spectacle to watch him climb the climb towards Constanza, a stage that has helped him achieve his five trophies in his career in the Cycling Tour .
Sánchez covered the 136.5 kilometers of the test in a time of three hours: 6 minutes and 44 seconds, to surpass Yurgen Ramírez, from Venezuela País Futuro, who finished in second place two seconds later, while Christopher Morales, from la Vega He arrived in a distant third place at 51 seconds.
The fourth position corresponded to Oscar Pachón, from Iowa Latino Cycling, who reached 53 seconds, fifth place went to Duvan Penagos, from San Cristóbal and Luis Matos, from Doglocy/Inteja Imca was sixth.
Sanabria maintains leadership
After the celebration of the day and with only two dates to conclude the event, Sanabria, from Venezuela País Futuro maintains the leadership of the event with 18:16;24 hours, two seconds behind Luis Mora, from Doglocy/Inteja Imca, who went to second place, third place goes to José Castillo, from Venezuela País Futuro, who is 14 seconds behind, the same as Edgar Cadena, from Inteja/Imca.
team classification
After concluding the fifth stage, the team overall is held by Venezuela País Futuro with 54:49;23 hours, being seconded by JB Calzado Power at 4:52 minutes difference; Iowa Latino Cycling Club is third at 10:43 minutes. The most outstanding team in this Saturday’s stage was Venezuela País Futuro, who recorded 9:23;55.
Other classifications
In the points test now Sanabria came to dominate, who adds 47; Daniel Estévez registers 44; Luis Gomez adds 30; Ronald Geran 29. In flying goals, Luis Gómez dominates with 24; Alberto Ramos is 21; Nestor Rueda has 12 and Cadena has 7.
Ismael leads mountains and best Dominican
On his side, Ismael Sánchez went on to lead the Mountains classification by accumulating 15 points, tied with Duvan Penagos, Yurgen Ramírez has 14 and Edgar Cadena has 13.
Among the Dominicans, he now leads with a time of 18:19; 41, Frailyn Bierd occupying second place with 18:21;43, Daniel Estévez is third with 18:26;06.
mountain stage today
This Sunday the sixth stage will be held, which will be the mountain stage and will have the Moca-Santiago-La Vega-Constanza route, the distance to travel will be 132 kilometers.