Edoardo Affini Last Tuesday he sprinted and finished third in stage one of the 2023 Vuelta a Burgos. Four bonus seconds seemed to reveal his intent to take the lead in the team time trial as the Italian is a specialist. It wasn’t, but control of the race passed into the hands of a Jumbo Visma runner: Attila Valter. The Hungarian, along with Primoz Roglic, Jan Tratnik and a long-suffering Koen Bouwman, He signed a great feat that brought him to the top of the General. With three stages to go and with Picón Blanco and Lagunas de Neila ahead, Roglic already has a racing situation that would allow him to live off the rents over his theoretical direct rivals if he wanted to: 19 seconds ahead one Rubio, 30″ from Vlasov, 31″ front Buitrago and Caruso, 34″ with Adam Yates…
Only 13.2 km, between Oña and Poza de la Sal, but very intense. Especially in the last section of the route. Inside was a small trap that would make the real difference in this time trial in the form of a climb: about 2km, about 5% on average. At high intensity it would get tough as shown Xavier Cañellas, Electro Hiper Europa rider, getting off his bike exhausted Just cross the finish line. Shortly thereafter, the core pharma group completed their exercise, which surprisingly took first place for a few minutes. His time was better than several World Tour riders but not that of a Bahrain team who beat the Spanish team by 15 seconds. Not without tension, because Buitrago and Caruso, who had fallen behind on the last slope, had to lift their foot a little to wait for two of his companions (the time was marked by the fourth).
Take a look at the schedule 15:09 for the Bahraini team it was clear that the victory would be held in less than 15 minutes. And the almighty jumbo came… Tratnik, Affini and the current Olympic champion of the specialty, Roglic. Nearly nothing. In the meantime, the remaining times have already improved significantly. The expected. In the final climb it was only four units, just enough. There was no affini who had turned himself in minutes earlier. Valter passed first, past Tratnik and a Roglic, who hit back in the final meters to attack Bouwman again. It was the Dutch climber who stopped the clock and improved the Bahrain record by 31 seconds (14:38). The rest of the teams, with no options. only the Movistar who signed a great performance (2nd) was less than 20″. He United Arab Emirates, who even improved the jumbo in the middle of the course, collapsed with one in the last section Bennett on the brink of the exhaustion they had to wait for on the target ramp.
“Our performance was almost perfect, we wanted to see how we would do on a similar stage of the Vuelta and I think this stage was very useful for us,” explained Valter, after taking the lead, about a plan that went according to plan. Will you now have chances to fight for the general? The Hungarian cleared all doubts: “It’s very difficult because we have appointed a runner.” Primoz Roglic who is very strong. I would be very happy if he won and my job is to try to help him get it. It’s my first time leading a race this year and I’ll be happy to race it tomorrow, even though my role in the team hasn’t changed. I’d like to finish at the top and Primoz win the race.” There’s more wood this Thursday with the Ascent to the Picón Blanco. Everything against the jumbo.
Results of the 2nd stage
1. Jumbo Visma (PBa) – 14:38
2. Movistar (Esp) – at 19″
3º Bora (Ale) – 30″
General of the 45th tour of Burgos
1. Attila Valter (Jumbo) – 3 hours 53:36
January 2 Tratnik (Jumbo) – mt
3. Koen Bouwman (Jumbo) – mt
4. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo) – mt
5 Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar) – at 13″
