Antonio Pedrero 5th in Prueba Villafranca – Clásica de Ordizia
25 July 2018

Prueba Villafranca

Catalan climber from Movistar Team into decisive, 21-man split with Arcas and Carretero. Power, Yates make it one-two for Mitchelton after late attack.

Robert Power (MTS) took the honours at Wednesday’s 95th edition of the Prueba Villafranca – Clásica de Ordizia (UCI 1.1, 165km), after jumping out of the leading group into the penultimate of seven climbs in the Basque race, the Alto de Altzo, alongside team-mate and second-place finisher Simon Yates (MTS).

The Mitchelton duo were part of a 21-man split initially including two Movistar Team members –Jorge Arcas and Antonio Pedrero-, who were later joined by Héctor Carretero. Despite their gap staying near one minute for the entire race, the presence of the most relevant squads into the move ended up giving them advantage, their gap exceeding 3′ at the final lap.

As the break was reduced to 15 elements into the fourth of five ascents to Abaltzisketa, still with all three Blues, the final selection saw Pedrero joining a short pursuit group with López-Cózar (EUK), Barceló (EUS) and Neilands (ICA). The final sprint took the Latvian into the podium, with Pedrero in 5th place behind Barceló.

Picture (c): Photo Gomez Sport