Unlucky Lobato in Hamburg
24 August 2014

Vattenfall Cyclassics

Andalusian from Movistar Team crashes in Germany, still takes 8th in sprint thanks to help by Sanz, snatches WorldTour points to keep Blues firmly on top

Picture (c): dpi

One more race, one less race. While the Vuelta a España should favour the Movistar Team’s interests, Plouay, the two Canadian races, the TTT Worlds in Ponferrada and Il Lombardia will be crucial for the Blues’ chances to repeat last year’s success at the final event in Beijing, still on top of the WorldTour at the end of the 19th Vattenfall Cyclassics. Juanjo Lobato, the Spanish squad’s main sprinter, claimed the 8th place at the end of the 247km event in Hamburg, whose main difficulties were the four passages through the Waseberg climb.

The Spaniard came into the volata still struggling with a crash suffered earlier in the day, which still did not avoid him getting into the main bunch after the last climb, but indeed playing an impact on his performance. Helped out by Enrique Sanz, Lobato was slightly taken out of position with 2km left and had to overcome from far behind, finishing next to Marcel Kittel (GIA) as Kristoff (KAT) claimed the day’s honours. The Blues now have 1,105 points -a 216-point advantage over AG2R- with yesterday’s Vuelta TT win  El gaditano llegó a la volata mermado por una caída sufrida durante la jornada, que no le impidió entrar en el pelotón princstill not taken into account, as Lobato jumps into the individual top-60.