This Saturday, a day marked in red for the national sport, with the victorious start of the national team at the European Football Championship, cycling also wanted to join the national joy. Pello Bilbao was the first to raise his arms in the Tour of Slovenia. Then, Alex Aranburu did the same at the Tour of Belgium, where only Luis León Sánchez had previously won as a Spaniard (in 2013), to add his seventh win as a professional. In both cases, the queen stage was crowned. In the case of the Movistar rider, breaking a streak of almost two years without victories but with several podiums. He was missing that last step and on the 177-kilometre route, which finished at the Durbuy wall (500m at 8.2%), he picked it up. Moreover, against very important rivals. His explosiveness surpassed the Frenchman Pierre Gautherat (Decathlon) and, above all, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin), who could not withstand such rigor.
“We knew the finish was too good for us. Lidl-Trek played their cards very well on the last slopes, they made the race difficult, But the team has done a great job towards the goal and we have achieved this victory, which makes me very excited And 10 seconds for being third overall. For now, I’m happy with today. We were looking for success on the podium, now we’re on the overall podium… We are going to enjoy today and tomorrow we will see if we have options to move forward”, celebrated Aranburu, who recorded his 13th Spanish victory of the season And he was very grateful to his teammates, who did a great job of positioning. Carlos Canales (5th) and Gonzalo Serrano (10th), both in the top-10 of the stage, are the best examples of this.
Final Assault
This Sunday, the last day, Aranburu, as he mentioned in his own words, will try to attack the general classification on the 186.2 kilometer route that starts and finishes in Brussels. Like the whole week, without major hardships, but with an ending that stings upside down. The Spaniard will try and chase bonuses at the finish line, with Norwegian Soren Werenskjold (Uno-X), the current leader of the classification, six seconds behind, and Czech Mathias Vasek (Liedl – Trek), in second place, a further two seconds behind. After 666 days without a win, confidence allows you to dream. Further, in addition, the Movistar rider has other motivations: today, something that has now been reinforced, he will be one of the Spanish cyclists at the Paris Olympic Games.
Tour of Belgium classification
Fourth stage
1st Alex Aranburu (Movistar) – 4 hours 14:37
Egan Bernal takes care of Skjelmose before the final time trial2 Pierre Gautherat (Fra/Decathlon) – Mount
3 Jasper Phillipson (Bell/Alpecin) – 3″
General
1 Soren Werenskjold (Day/Uno-X) – 12 hours 33:32
2 Mathias Vasek (RCH/Liddall – Trek) – 2″
3 Alex Aranburu (Movistar) – 6
Pello Bilbao, the ‘improvised’ king on his way to the Tour de Francefollow the Diario AS channel on WhatsAppWhere you will find all sports in one place: current news of the day, the agenda with the latest news of the most important sporting events, the most outstanding images, opinions from the best AS brands, reports, videos, and from time to time some humor.
