• Classifications: so is the general

There are victories that are worth a career, sometimes they are worth even an entire project. Ángel Madrazo , a day laborer, won in Javalambre for him and also for Burgos BH , the most modest team of this Tour, a squad that continually fights for its survival, which has gone through a thousand and one problems, even betrayals of runners who already They are part of the past. A victory in La Vuelta forgets everything, because there is nothing bigger for a team with Burgos BH. Well, yes there is, the double they achieved, because after Madrazo the Dutchman Jetse Bol arrived , as happy as if it was he who first crossed the finish line. [Stage narration] [General classification]

Madrazo put the emotional point to the first mountain stage of this Tour, delivered by the platoon to the three escapes. The third was José Herrada (Cofidis), who set the pace throughout the ascent, a total of 11 kilometers. Bol always grabbed his wheel, but Madrazo traced a Guadiannesque ascension, clutching and letting go of his two partners, but always maintaining eye contact. In the last kilometer, the Sparrow of Cazoña returned to them when reaching and pressed when thinking that the points for the mountain jersey were distributed before the goal.

The plan was to take those points and then help his partner Bol, who was more whole than him, to win the stage. But when he accelerated for that partial 'sprint' that did not really exist, he discovered that Herrada was in disarray, so he continued forward until he reached the finish line alone, wearing the blue polka dot jersey and making history for the Burgos BH. It was an exhibition of determination, faith and solidarity, because Madrazo only suffered thinking about helping his partner, although then the circumstances gave him the grand prize.

Lopez, the strongest

The next one that appeared on the finish line, in fourth place, was Miguel Ángel López , the strongest of the men of the general, also the bravest. He arrived 12 seconds before Primoz Roglic and Alejandro Valverde because he dared to attack them in the last four kilometers. Superman has learned, after the click of the second day in which he lost the leadership, that the best way to avoid the good attack is to star in it himself. It did not help him to win the stage, because the squad was stopped braking giving advantage to the escape, but to recover the leader's red jersey.

Roche lost it, as planned, and Quintana , second classified, was not able to inherit it. The Colombian stayed on a tougher climb than many thought. And although that frankly is no longer news, it is that he yielded when his partner Valverde accelerated the pace of the leading group. Well, well thought out, that is not news in the Movistar, it happened a little more than a month ago in the Tour.

The fact is that Quintana, who seemed to rejuvenate with his triumph in Calpe, returned again to his more gray version. He gave 54 seconds to López, although the advantage acquired on that second day of the race leaves 23 of his countryman in a general that is already beginning to be structured: only Roglic, Quintana, Valverde, Roche and Urán are less than a minute away from the leader .

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