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Vuelta a Chihuahua Internacional - 2.2
Mexico, October 7-14, 2007
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Stage 1 - October 7: Juarez circuit, 82.6 km
Mejías takes first pro victory
By Monika Prell in Juarez
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Javier Mejías (Saunier Duval) won the first stage of the Vuelta a Chihuahua in Mexico and added the first win to his palmarès account. The 24 year-old won the sprint ahead of the rest of his breakaway companions, including Filipe Cardoso (Liberty Seguros) and Tomasz Marczynski (Ceramica Flaminia).
The second edition of the Vuelta a Chihuahua began Sunday in Ciudad Juárez with a flat stage. This year, the participation was even better than last year, with the ProTour team Saunier Duval and other professional teams like Relax GAM and Fuerteventura Canarias. On the first day, the 96 riders had to endure 14 laps, or a total of 82.6 kilometres through a town that serves as a gateway to the US.
In the almost desert landscape of Northern Mexico, riders and the general public suffered in dust, wind and sun. Nevertheless, the activity of the peloton was fast from the beginning, with many attacks coming early. Already at the end of the first lap, 30 riders had escaped, including David Bernabeu and José Adrián Bonilla (Fuerteventura Canarias), Francisco Mancebo, Santi Pérez and Óscar Sevilla (Relax GAM), David de la Fuente and Javier Mejías (Saunier Duval Prodir). The peloton barely tried to catch them, and in the end, it came down to a sprint among the breakaway companions. Mejías was the strongest and won in a time of 1h44'07".
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A very happy Mejías said after the finish to Cyclingnews, "It was great that we reached [the final sprint] with this small group, so I had my chance. It's my first victory as professional and I dedicate it to my parents, Juan Manuel and Guadalupe, and my brother, Juan Manuel, who always supported me. The stage was not very hard, the only problem was the wind. There were a lot of attacks. I am happy that David de la Fuente was with me, he helped me in the final.
"Now I am keen on maintaining the leadership. I am confident, my form is good after the Vuelta a España, but you notice that the level is higher [here] than last year because of the ProTour teams and the [other] professional teams," said Mejías.
The public came out in force for the first stage, and more crowds are expected for Monday's stage, which will start in Chihuahua and finish in Camargo. The peloton will ride 147.8 kilometres, with a category-four mountain, but the stage will likely end in a mass sprint as the mountain is early - at kilometre 36.6.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Monika Prell
- Team Orven take a moment out of the Mexican sun and enjoy the shade.
- The Team Tecos riders enjoy a moment in the shade.
- The local kids came out to support the professional riders.
- Fuerteventura - Canarias riders wait for the start of the Mexican race's first stage.
- The assembled media are clearly pleased to be in Mexico.
- Podium (L-R): Filipe Cardoso (Liberty Seguros), Javier Mejías (Saunier Duval-Prodir) and Thomasz Marczynski (Ceramica Flaminia).
Images by Rafael Gómez Alonso
- Three riders go off the front early on the day's 82.6 kilometre stage.
- Javier Mejías (Saunier Duval) takes victory on the opening stage in Mexico.
- Spain's Javier Mejías (Saunier Duval) enjoys his Stage 1 victory.
- Podium (L-R): Filipe Cardoso (Liberty Seguros), Javier Mejías (Saunier Duval-Prodir) and Thomasz Marczynski (Ceramica Flaminia).
Results
1 Javier Mejías (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 1.44.07 (47.600 km/h) 2 Filipe Cardoso (Por) Liberty Seguros 3 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Ceramica Flaminia 4 Danny Pate (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 5 Antonio D'aniello (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia 6 Eduardo Graciano (Mex) Orven 7 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Relax-Gam 8 Cuitlahuac Ayala (Mex) Arenas Tlacala 9 Francisco Matamoros (Mex) Tecos de la Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara 10 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Agritubel 11 José Adrian Bonilla (CRc) Fuerteventura-Canarias 12 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team 13 Jose Gerardo Soto (Mex) Arenas Tlacala 14 Lucas Euser (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 15 Gilberto Porras (Mex) Rica Burguer 16 David Salomon (Mex) Canel's Turbo 17 Dan Bowman (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast 18 Antonio Aldape (Mex) Canel's Turbo 19 Eric Keim (USA) AEG-Toshiba-Jetnetwork Pro Cycling Team 20 Santiago Perez Fernandez (Spa) Relax-Gam 21 Martin Robles (Mex) Rica Burguer 22 Emilien Benoit Bergès (Fra) Agritubel 23 Gregorio Ladino (Col) Tecos de la Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara 24 Cameron Evans (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team 25 Pedro Covarrubias (Mex) Orven 26 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 27 Timothy Duggan (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 28 David Bernabeu Armengol (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 29 Vitor Rodrigues (Por) Liberty Seguros 30 Oscar Barron (Mex) Orven 1.47.10 31 Mikel Artetxe Gezuraga (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 32 Carlos Lopez (Mex) Canel's Turbo 33 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Relax-Gam 34 Rafael Aguilar (Mex) Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua 35 Jessel Valenzuela (Mex) Orven 36 Edgardo Lugo (Mex) Canel's Turbo 37 Fausto Esparza (Mex) Tecos de la Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara 38 Misael Ramirez (Mex) Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua 39 Fabian Reyes (Mex) Fullerton Bicycles-Novo 40 Roberto Rodriguez (Mex) Fullerton Bicycles-Novo 41 Antonio Velazquez (Mex) Rica Burguer 42 Domingo Gonzalez (Mex) Orven 43 Oscar Sevilla Ribera (Spa) Relax-Gam 44 Ivan Borunda (Mex) Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua 45 Eder Arenas (Mex) Arenas Tlacala 46 César Antunes Quiterio (Por) Liberty Seguros 47 Jonathan Reid Mumford (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast 48 Daniel Duarte (Mex) Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua 49 Nacor Burgos Rojo (Spa) Relax-Gam 50 Edgar Treviño (Mex) Orven 51 Arquimedes Lam (Mex) Canel's Turbo 52 Steven Cozza (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 53 Saul Figueroa (Mex) Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua 54 Bernardo Colex Tepoz (Mex) Tecos de la Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara 55 Henry Swinty (USA) Rica Burguer 56 Ruben Lobato Elvira (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 57 Juan Pablo Villela (Mex) Rica Burguer 58 Hector Rangel (Mex) Tecos de la Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara 59 Oswaldo Hernandez (Mex) Fullerton Bicycles-Novo 60 Ricardo Samuel Tapia (Mex) Arenas Tlacala 61 Pedro Garibay (Mex) Fullerton Bicycles-Novo 62 Jesus Grajeda (Mex) Orven 63 Arkaitz Duran (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 64 Iosvani Falcon (Cub) AEG-Toshiba-Jetnetwork Pro Cycling Team 65 Marco Rios (Mex) Fullerton Bicycles-Novo 66 Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (Spa) Agritubel 67 Edgar Gaytan (Mex) Fullerton Bicycles-Novo 68 Nuno Ribeiro (Por) Liberty Seguros 69 Alex Hagman (USA) AEG-Toshiba-Jetnetwork Pro Cycling Team 70 Luis Pinheiro (Por) Liberty Seguros 71 Justin Spinelli (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast 72 Miguel Angel Gonzalez (Mex) Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua 73 Jose Miguel Elias Galindo (Spa) Relax-Gam 74 José de Jesus Gomez (Mex) Arenas Tlacala 75 Blake Caldwell (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 76 Dean Peters (USA) Fullerton Bicycles-Novo 77 David Winston (USA) AEG-Toshiba-Jetnetwork Pro Cycling Team 78 Gabriel Juarez (Mex) Arenas Tlacala 79 David Belda (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 80 Geoffrey Kabush (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team 81 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 82 John Fredy Parra (Col) Tecos de la Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara 83 Enrique Mendez (Mex) Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua 84 Carlos Manuel Hernandez (Mex) Canel's Turbo 85 Alberto Fernandez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 86 Joel Alamillo (Mex) Arenas Tlacala 87 Juan Miguel Mercado Martin (Spa) Agritubel 88 William Frishkorn (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 89 David Muñoz (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 90 Carlos Nozal Vega (Spa) Liberty Seguros 91 Andrew Pinfold (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team 92 Adrian Palomares Villaplana (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 93 Adriano Angeloni (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia 94 Martin Gilbert (Can) Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast 95 Gianluca Geremia (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia 96 Will Routley (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team 97 Kevin Lacombe (Can) Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast 98 Eduardo Vicencio (Mex) Rica Burguer 99 Ryan Blicken (USA) Rica Burguer 100 Ryan Roth (Can) Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast 101 Uriel Clara (Mex) Canel's Turbo 1.48.36 102 Adam Wadecki (Pol) Ceramica Flaminia 1.51.42 Sprints 1 1 Filipe Cardoso (Por) Liberty Seguros 3 pts 2 Eduardo Graciano (Mex) Orven 2 3 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Agritubel 1 2 1 Filipe Cardoso (Por) Liberty Seguros 3 pts 2 Eduardo Graciano (Mex) Orven 2 3 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Ceramica Flaminia 1 Points 1 Javier Mejías (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 5 pts 2 Filipe Cardoso (Por) Liberty Seguros 3 3 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Ceramica Flaminia 2 Most Combative 1 Filipe Cardoso (Por) Liberty Seguros 9 pts 2 Javier Mejías (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 5 3 Eduardo Graciano (Mex) Orven 4 4 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Ceramica Flaminia 3 5 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Agritubel 1 Teams 1 Team Slipstream 5.12.21 2 Relax Gam Fuenlabrada 3.03 4 Arenas Tlax 3 Orven 5 Canel's Turbo 6 Tecos Universidad Autonoma 7 Fuerte Ventura Canarias 8 Liberty Seguros 9 Rica Burguer 10 Saunier Duval Prodir 11 Agritubel 12 Ceramica Flamina Cycling 13 Symetrics Cycling Team 14 Kelly Benefit Strategies 16.06 15 Aeg Toshiba 6.06 16 Univeridad Autonoma De Chihuahua 9.09 17 Fullerton Bicycleo Novo
