Eider Merino 5th in grueling Emakumeen Nafarroako Klasikoa
30 July 2019

Women’s Navarra classics

Basque climber from Movistar Team fights for podium finish all the way towards Lekunberri’s finish; overtaken Moolman (CCC), Kennedy (MTS), WNT duo with Santesteban & Ensing.

South African champion Ashleigh Moolman (CCC) took the victory at the first edition of the Emakumeen Nafarroako Klasikoa (UCI 1.2), over 109km with more than 2,o00 metres of vertical gain from Pamplona to Lekunberri -featuring the climbs of Goñi / Ulzurrun, Lizarraga and San Miguel de Aralar-.

Lourdes Oyarbide, con su nuevo maillot de Copa de España.

The Movistar Team had a fair share of protagonism from the very start of the Spanish race. An attack by Lorena Llamas together with Japan’s Eri Yonamine (ALE) kept the Catalan in the lead until the slopes of Lizarraga, where Mitchelton-Scott’s pace-making shrank the peloton down to just over 20 riders -including Mavi García, Eider Merino, Alicia González and Malgorzata Jasinska-.

Eider Merino crosses the finish line in Lekunberri.

It was Merino who took to the fore at the brutal, concrete-surfaced San Miguel, pursuing with great pace and plenty of attacks the leaders, Moolman and Lucy Kennedy (MTS), as part of a four-woman group two que including Vysotska (SER), Ensing and Santesteban (ALE). In the end, Eider took 5th at the finish, which, combined with García’s 9th and the 12th spot by ‘Jasi, all helped the Blues step onto the podium as top squad of the day.