Coloma and Galicia continue to make history in La Rioja

The La Rioja mountain biker is leading the race and has delivered on the pre-race prediction to win the first day on home turf. While the Catalan rider remains undefeated; she now has ten consecutive stage wins in La Rioja Bike Race presented by Shimano.

After targeting victory today, Carlos Coloma has won the first stage of the 2017 La Rioja Bike Race presented by Shimano. The Riojan needed 3h04’00″ to cover the 73.9 kilometers and 2,011 meters of elevation gain that the race route presented.

The Primaflor-Mondraker-Rotor mountain biker dealt an authoritative blow in the stage’s final stretch after leaving behind his teammate, Jesús del Nero, who finished 2’39″ back, and the Romanian and La Rioja resident, Vlad Dascalu (Dinamo-Bikexpert Racing), at 2’44″ off the winning time.

The winner and Olympic medalist explained at the stage’s end, “My teammates had my back, especially in the last twenty kilometers. It was out of a textbook. At the end of the race I was doing quite well, but with forty kilometers to go, I got cramps and I suffered a little, but with the warmth of the fans and the support of the sponsors, who are always by my side, I managed to cross the finish in first.”

The event ambassador was hooked to the lead group on the last steep climb ascending from the Viguera quarries but, on the Senda Bonita descent — one of his favorites, he escaped along with José Antonio Hermida, who flatted in this stretch. “Carlos descended with confidence and soloed away only after Hermida flatted. Now we have to protect our leader and try to win on home turf,” added second place Jesús del Nero.

Third place Vlad Dascalu and José Antonio Hermida (Merida), who suffered two incidents to his rear wheel, which prevented him from finishing among the leaders, explained that they executed a beautiful escape at the beginning by following del Nero “Coloma caught us in the technical section and we weren’t able do anything, but tomorrow we will try to win because — despite not competing for a month, I am in great shape,” Hermida argued.

Galicia scores big

In the Elite Women’s category the winner was again Clàudia Galicia (Polar-Trek) with a time of 3h38’02″. The Catalan mountain biker has won every single stage in the history of the La Rioja Bike Race presented by Shimano, adding up ten victories so far, and has gained about a 20-minute advantage over second place Sandra Santanyes (Olympia Factory Cycling), who finished with a time of 3h55’41″. Third place, with a time of 4h07’51″, is Janette Solsona (Blue Motors Pons), who arrived within a half hour of the absolute race dominator.

“I enjoyed it very much and found it to be a good race. Sandra started very strong but I overtook her on the first climb to put myself in the lead. From there I tried to do my stage separate from everyone else, “explained Galicia. Even so, the winner of the first three editions of the event recalled that much remains to be done and that “any mechanical or loss can make you lose your competitive edge. Until I pass through the finishing arch on the third day, I will stop fighting.”

Detailed information

The first stage of the La Rioja Bike Race presented by Shimano had a distance of 72.9 kilometers and 2,011 meters of elevation gain. It was a similar stage to the last edition but with more single-track. All the mountain bikers agreed that it would be a very fast stage, and that was confirmed barely after departing from the La Rioja Palacio de Deportes.

The first sustained ascent was by a trail that crossed the typical vineyard hills until reaching the town of Clavijo (Km 15). Just after the day’s first steep climbs was where the first escape happened with José Antonio Hermida, Vlad Dascalu, and Jesús del Nero launching attacks in an effort to rid themselves of the other race favorites.

The peloton split after this climb and, after descending by an abrupt dirt road, the second part of the main climb started on a magnificent trail passing through the small town of Luezas to reach the summit (Km 29) also by trail instead of last year’s dirt road. Jesús del Nero was leading the stage, followed closely by more technically-gifted rivals.

Upon reaching the summit, the stage descended down Senda Preciosa to connect with the Chorrón, an unprecedented stretch of trail. A new descending trail delivered all participants to the Viguera quarries (Km 40), from where racers began the most demanding climb, first by trail and then by single-track, which helped launch Coloma into the lead.

This section is where José Antonio Hermida, who was working together with del Nero, suffered and lost time. He had to change his wheel because he had not fixed the previous flat very well; Coloma’s teammate, del Nero, set himself up to fight back.

Once the last climb of the day was summited, the route linked up with the Senda Bonita descent (Km 45), where the stage winner and event ambassador left all the other rivals behind, definitively shucking them on the descent and was crowned as the first winner of the fourth edition of La Rioja Bike Race presented by Shimano.