Spanish National Championships - CN

Torrepacheco-Cieza-Murcia, Spain, June 23-26, 2005

Main Page Results Previous Day

Day 4 - June 26: Elite Men's Road Race, 231.3 km

Gárate outsprints defending champ Mancebo

Juan Manuel Gárate (Saunier Duval) has won the Spanish Championship road race in Murcia, outsprinting the defending champion Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears) after 231 kilometres of hard and intense racing. Third to arrive on the finish line was Jordi Berenguer (Catalunya-Angel Mir). The 29 year-old Gárate was helped by his teammate Constantino Zaballa, included in the big breakaway of the day. Local hero and big time favourite Alejandro Valverde (Illes Balears) finished 8th.

How it unfolded

157 riders took the start of the 25.7 km-long circuit in the South-Eastern city of Murcia, which included a difficult climb up the Altorreal. In the blistering heat, there were 107 abandons on the selective parcours.

After only 16 km, a break of 29 riders formed and created a gap of a maximum 10 minutes. Illes Balears stayed calm in the back, and one by one, the break fell apart, leaving only Xabier Zandio (Illes Balears), Luis Pérez, (Relax Fuenlabrada) and Constantino Zaballa (Saunier Duval) in front. Zaballa made another big effort and attacked at km 200 - and managed to stay away for another 15 kilometres.

Meanwhile, the race was wide open for other attacks coming from behind, and one of them was Koldo Gil (Liberty Seguros), who passed Zaballa on the last ascent of the Villareal, with Miguel Angel Martín Perdiguero (Phonak), Joaquín Rodríguez and Juan Manuel Gárate (Saunier Duval) as well as Alejandro Valverde (Illes Balears) also fighting hard amongst others. At km 226, Gárate made it through and was immediately joined by Mancebo. Together, they were able to stay away from the chasing Berenguer, Sergio Domínguez (Spiuk), Luis Pasamontes (Relax Fuenlabrada) and Gil, who were battling it out for the third placing. Pasamontes unfortunately crashed before the last kilometre and could not finish the race.

Results

1 Juan Manuel Gárate (Saunier Duval Prodir)          5.55.27
2 Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears-Casse D'Epargne)         
3 Jordi Berenguer (Catalunya Ángel Mir)                 0.18
4 Koldo Gil (Liberty Seguros Wurth)                         
5 Sergio Domínguez (Spiuk)                                  
6 Adolfo García (Comunitat Valenciana)                  0.31
7 Joaquín Rodríguez (Saunier Duval Prodir)                  
8 Alejandro Valverde (Illes Balears-Casse D'Epargne)    0.37
9 Ángel Edo (Saunier Duval Prodir)                          
10 Miguel Ángel Martín (Phonak)                             
11 Josep Jufré (Relax Fuenlabrada)                          
12 David Cañada (Saunier Duval Prodir)                      
13 Xaver Tondo (Catalunya Ángel Mir)                    0.40
14 Francisco J. Lara (T-Mobile)                         0.42
15 Koldo Fernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)                  1.17
16 Jesús Hernández (Liberty Seguros Wurth)                  
17 Xavier Florencio (Relax Fuenlabrada)                 1.19
18 Carlos Barredo (Liberty Seguros Wurth)                   
19 Óscar Laguna (Relax Fuenlabrada)                         
20 Pedro Romero (Spiuk)                                     
21 Pablo Lastras (Illes Balears-Casse D'Epargne)            
22 Israel Núñez (Kaiku)                                     
23 Constantino Zaballa (Saunier Duval Prodir)               
24 Jorge Ferrío (Spiuk)                                     
25 Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)                       
26 Luis Pérez (Cofidis)                                     
27 Daniel Atienza (Cofidis)                                 
28 Santos González (Phonak)                             1.32
29 David Fernandez (Andalucia-Paul Versan)              3.32
30 Fernando Torres (Spiuk)                                  
31 Victor Gomez (Andalucia-Paul Versan)                     
32 Gustavo Domínguez (Orbea)                                
33 Raúl García (Relax Fuenlabrada)                          
34 Jesús Pérez (Spiuk)                                      
35 Aitor Pérez (Spiuk)                                      
36 Antonio Olmo (Comunitat Valenciana)                      
37 Israel Pérez (Spiuk)                                     
38 José Miguel Elías (Relax Fuenlabrada)                    
39 Joseba Albizu (Euskaltel-Euskadi)                        
40 David Etxeberría (Liberty Seguros Wurth)                 
41 Luis Pasamontes (Relax Fuenlabrada)                  4.17
42 Alberto Rodríguez (Catalunya Ángel Mir)              4.56
43 Javier Ramírez (Liberty Seguros Wurth)                   
44 José Mario Almagro (Relax Fuenlabrada)                   
45 Juan Gomis (Comunitat Valenciana)                    9.55
46 Manuel Calvente (Csc Team)                               
47 Francisco Andújar (Catalunya Ángel Mir)                  
48 José E. Gutiérrez (Phonak)                               
49 Fco. Jose Martinez (Andalucia-Paul Versan)               
50 Isaac Gálvez (Illes Balears-Casse D'Epargne)             
51 José Vicente García (Illes Balears-Casse D'Epargne)      
52 Rubén Lobato (Saunier Duval Prodir)                      
53 David Herrero (Euskaltel-Euskadi)                        
54 Juan Antonio Pastor (Andalucia-Paul Versan)              
55 Ángel Castresana (Mr Bookmaker)                          
56 Luis León Sánchez (Liberty Seguros Wurth)                
57 Carlos Zárate (Comunitat Valenciana)                     
58 David Arroyo (Illes Balears-Casse D'Epargne)             
59 Luis Pérez (Relax Fuenlabrada)                           
60 Julio López (Relax Fuenlabrada)