Crosswinds preceed Burgos decider
04 August 2012

Vuelta a Burgos (st. 4)

Visconti, Moreno and Pardilla reach Clunia less than half a minute behind the leading group -outsprinted by Martens (RAB)- after several echelons into the bunch taking Movistar Team out of position in the eve of the Lagunas de Neila climb

Spaniard Dani Moreno (KAT) keeps the overall lead in the 34th Vuelta a Burgos after a tough stage four -170km between Doña Santos and the short ascent towards the Roman City of Clunia- completely marked by crosswinds into the final 30 kilometers of racing. The splits into the bunch left two main groups in pursuit of the day’s break: a first one, composed by about twenty riders, and a second one, including all Movistar Team riders, who sacrificed themselves at the front to keep the gaps thin and allow their main contenders stay live into the fight for the purple jersey.

At the climb, German Paul Martens (RAB) profited from vigilance between the main GC favourites to take the stage victory; meanwhile, behind the leaders, Giovanni Visconti was the strongest within the pursuit group and came just under half a minute after the leaders, with Sergio Pardilla and Javi Moreno on his back. The Italian now sits in 11th place overall, and together with his two team-mates keeps the top-20 overall, less than a minute back on the race lead in the day prior to the showdown atop the Lagunas de Neila (HC), the end of a 170k trek with no less than five categorized climbs from the start at Comunero de Revenga.