The Murcian cyclist Luis León Sánchez , from the Astana sports group , was proclaimed this Sunday in Baeza (Jaén) champion of Spain on the road in the professional category, a race that had a route of 185 kilometers and in which for the first time he climbs to the highest on the podium.

Luisle, as he is known in the peloton and who has been gold four times in the clock , waited for the right moment to attack and did so in the final stretch of a race that was definitively broken on the ascent to the Mazuecos port .

There, the representation of the Cofidis team took command first with Fernando Barceló and then with Jesús Herrada , very strong, but who was left without a prize when the chain came off in the last corner and he could not fight for victory with Luisle or make a podium in the test.

That award went to Gorka Izagirre , teammate of the Spanish champion at Astana, who was silver, and Vicente García de Mateos , from Aviludo-Louletano from Portugal, who won bronze.

All benefited from the absence of Alejandro Valverde , the last champion, who did not participate in Jaén as he was in the ' bubble ' organized by his team to compete in the next Tour de France , which gave his teammates more freedom of movement.

The strong men began to be seen in the head in the last two laps of the circuit, with Iván García Cortina (Barain), Gorka Izaguirre (Astana), Diego Rubio (Burgos), Luis Ángel Maté (Cofidis) and Óscar Sevilla (Medellín) , although without major attacks in the absence of 40 kilometers to crown the champion of Spain, but with Kern Pharma pulling at a strong pace from a group of about 50 units.

The ascent to the port of Mazuecos , with 7 kilometers of ascent with an average slope of 5.6 percent and 16 of the Baezan finish line, had to select the definitive aspirants to victory, and thus the representation of Cofidis took command of the peloton thinking of Jesús Herrada in the face of the final ascent.

The attacks did not stop and Mikel Iturria and later Jaime Castrillo (Kern Pharna), who left excellent sensations on the clock, sought to leave alone.

Just 3 kilometers away, Cofidis' strategy paid off and Barceló was left alone at the head of the race with 13 seconds of the race over the favorites to win: Iván García Cortina, Gorka Izaguirre, his teammate Jesús Herrada and Luis León Sánchez , among others.

Thus, Barceló's work was positive and Herrada took over in the last 2,000 meters, although León and Izagirre, both from Astana, did not give up and reacted from behind with a constant pedaling.

Luis León caught up with Herrada , who had the misfortune of suffering a mechanical breakdown that forced him to enter the finish line on foot and prevented him from getting on the podium, with Gorka Izagirre and Vicente García de Mateos, silver and bronze in Baeza.

Classification

.one. Luis León Sánchez (Astana): 4.24.21

.two. Gora Izagirre (Astana): to 15

.3. Vicente García (Louletano): to 15

.4. Iván García Cortina (Bharain): to 22

.5. Rubén Fernández (Euskadi): to 22

.6. Fernando Barceló (Cofidis): to 24

.7. Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma): at 24

.8. Diego Rubio (Burgos): to 27

.9. Samuel Blanco (Froiz): to 32

10. Gustavo Veloso (W52 Porto): to 39.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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