Vuelta a Castilla y León (st. 1)

Sanz, Rojas take 3rd, 4th in Castilla y León's opening stage in Valladoilid -with Movistar as teams' leader- after several echelons form and collapse during the stage

Spaniard Pablo Urtasun (EUS) is the first leader of the 28th Vuelta a Castilla y León after a long stage of 194km between Arévalo and Valladolid, with the only mountain climb of the Alto de Velliza (Cat. 3) just around 30k from the finish. The splits due to crosswinds marked the opening phase of a stage where Movistar Team proved to be ready to defend its 2011 and 2012 titles. It was the Blues’ initiative to start pulling and ultimately breaking the bunch into five groups, with a first group of 16 containing no less than six riders from the telephone squad. The group would get back together with 90k remaining.

This way, the second part of the day followed a traditional structure, with the day’s early, seven-man break already leading the race before the echelons being progressively caught by a bunch where Movistar Team -after a puncture by Rojas, quickly solved, with 15km remaining- leading out the sprint and coming close to victory. Enrique Sanz’s 3rd place -the young Navarran taking four bonus seconds- and José Joaquín Rojas’s 4th -as well as Javi Moreno’s 9th in his return with backnumber 1- made the lads directed by José Luis Laguía step onto the podium as teams’ leaders, before another chance is played on Saturday over another flat, 164-km course from Urueña to Palencia.