The Trumpet Newspaper Issue 551 (August 11 - 24 2021)

Page16 TheTrumpet AUGUST 11 - 24 2021
Sport
Romain Bardet (Team DSM) wins
Vuelta a Burgos
Romain Bardet (Team DSM) won
Stage 3 of the Vuelta a Burgos,
crossing the line solo, with
Domenico Pozzovivo (Team Qhubeka
NextHash) () leading the chase group
home and taking 2nd, Mikel Landa
(Bahrain-Victorious) was 3rd.
Stage 3 of the Vuelta a Burgos
presented the first real test to the GC
contenders as riders had to take on the
well-known Picon Blanco climb. The
complete stage covered 173km, with
Picon Blanco peaking at just 18km to go,
followed by a technical descent to the
line.
An early break did go clear in the
opening kilometres of the stage, but the
peloton had no problem controlling the
gap, ensuring the escapees would be
caught on the climb.
Ineos-Grenadiers and EF-Education
took up the pace setting on the lower
slopes of the climb, but it was an
acceleration from Fabio Aru that really
put the pressure on, resulting in the main
group thinning out. Giro d’Italia winner,
Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers) then tried
to control the pace for their protected
rider, Pavel Sivakov, but new attacks soon
followed.
Aru and Pozzovivo rode well in
tandem, following the moves until just 11
riders remained in contention at 3km to go
from the summit of the climb. It became
quite tactical over the final uphill
kilometres but it was Bardet who put in a
telling attack just before the summit and
got a 15” gap.
Pozzovivo formed part of the first
chase group with three other riders, Landa
(Bahrain-Victorious), Nieve (Bike-
Exchange) and Bouchard (AG2R
Citroen), as the descent began. Aru
followed a few seconds behind in the 2nd
chase group.
Bardet went downhill like a rocket and
extended his lead to 35” over the
Pozzovivo chase group. There was a big
scare for Pozzovivo though as Bouchard
crashed in front of him in one of the many
corners, but our Italian managed to stay
upright and resumed the chase.
Bardet also slid out right near the
bottom of the descent but hardly lost any
time with an impressive and rapid
remount. The Frenchman held his gap to
the line, taking a very good stage win.
Pozzovivo led the now 3-rider chase
group home, to take 2nd place on the
stage.
Aru would finish in the next group of
chasers, just 11” behind the Pozzovivo
group, and sprinted to 7th place on the
stage. The strong rides from our Italian
duo saw Pozzovivo climb to 3rd place on
the overall GC with Aru moving up to 4th.
Domenico Pozzovivo remarked that:
“Today was a stage that suited me better
than the first two windy stages. On the last
climb we did some great work, together
with Fabio, it was just Bardet that got a
jump on Landa and me at the top and we
know that he is very strong on the
downhill. I tried to avoid taking too many
risks on the downhill. Me, Landa and
Nieve tried to come back on Bardet but he
was very strong, even on the flat sections.
Finally, I was happy to come in 2nd with
a good sprint because that is not my best
skill. We look forward now with
confidence in our shape for the final
mountain stage and also to the Vuelta a
Espana.”
Founded in 2007, Team Qhubeka
NextHash is a purpose-led, highperformance
team, fighting to win on the
world’s biggest stage. Team Qhubeka
NextHash (formerly NTT Pro Cycling)
became the first-ever African cycling
team to gain a UCI WorldTour license, in
2016.
It is a multicultural, diverse team with
bases in South Africa, the Netherlands and
Italy. There are 19 nationalities
represented across its World Tour and
continental feeder team rosters. Its focus
on developing African cycling has
resulted in more than 55 riders from the
African continent being given the
opportunity to race on the world stage,
since the team’s inception.
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