The twenty-eighth victory of the 2015 season for the Movistar Team stays out of reach by a short margin, the Blues repeating last Saturday's runner-up in Ordizia as Juanjo Lobato finished 2nd in the 70th Circuito de Getxo.
The Movistar squad cooperated with Cofidis, Caja Rural and Rusvelo to keep the early, three-man breakaway on a leash into the urban roads in Biscay, ten laps and a total 170km, the race significantly harder after torrential rain covered the gulf in the early morning, later drying up.
After controlling the gaps with Visconti halfway through the race while the rest of the Blues protected Lobato, the José Luis Jaimerena, led squad changed its strategy and sent Igor Antón and Rubén Fernández into the attacks. Both were left no terrain by a bunch always strung out, even splitting into the final lap with only 25 riders at the front until they got back together before the last kick uphill.
Bouhanni (COF) bested Lobato into the slopes of Arkotxa, as the Movistar Team put another two within the top ten, with José Joaquín Rojas in fourth while Enrique Sanz came home in sixth. Lobato heads now to Warsaw for the start of the 72nd Tour de Pologne (2.WT, Aug 2-8), searching for a chance into the four predictable, opening bunch sprints. Antón, Ventoso, Sütterlin, Dowsett, Capecchi, Ion Izagirre, Intxausti will join Juanjo, with Jaimerena and José Luis Laguía as DSs.
“It was a very nervous arrival. At 200 meters I was hooked with Barbero. I took the path and when I went to cut the curve, he had already put the wheel on the inside. I had already made the turn and I played with him,” Lobato told Biciciclismo.
“I apologize because it was not my intention and I'm not closing these corridors. I know him well, I've been in Sierra Nevada with him ... I have no bad feeling , they are problems of racing and I hope to come back here. I would have liked to win, but we must congratulate Bouhanni and his team, who have overcome this great.”
“Physically I still have quite a bit to go yet, and it is visible. I had a X-ray before coming here and the right collarbone is still not completely okay. The truth is I'm a little scared. Now I travel to Poland and then, I in principle, do Eneco Tour. Today, I don’t have La Vuelta on my calendar, but I do not know if that can change."
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