Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Castroviejo snatches brilliant Romandie win













A sensational Jonathan Castroviejo stormed to a somewhat surprising win in today's Tour de Romandie prologue. Like I said yesterday, the course was perfect for him, so it was hardly a surprise that he was up there. But that he beat Phinney, Howard, Millar, Grabsch, Vino and co. was unexpected. For a soon-to-be-24-year-old that's one hell of a win. And what a way to grab your very first one as a pro! Not only it it a major boost to Euskaltel's season, it's also the breakthrough he's been longing for since joining Euskaltel last year. What made the victory even sweeter is the fact that he beat Phinney and Howard by less than second. To be precise he beat the American by two tenths of a second. That feels like revenge after the team, and Samu in particular, have been beaten so narrowly numerous times already this season. Finally luck seemed to be playing along. Full results, reactions and photos to come later this evening.

6 comments:

Nick said...

Ahhh beating the track studs at their own game! Imagine the motivation Castroviejo will now have going forward!!

Is a podium in order for Castroviejo at Romandie? The climbing isn't too brutal, and he should be able to do well in the 20km TT

azanca02 said...

Awesome Job!!!

Magnus said...

He's good on the climbs, but I'm afraid the climbs are still a bit too tough for him to fight for a podium...

Bolsen3 said...

Guess it all depends on how the favorites will ride the climbs. If he can stay close to the front groups, he might be in for a top 10, maybe top 5 overall. The time differences shouldn't be to big i recon. The most important stage should be the 20km TT, so he has a good chance at making a result here!

BTW, feltet.dk pointed out that this was the first Euskatel prologue victory since Iban Mayos won the prologue in Dauphine 2004! :)

Nick said...

These climbing parcours are incredibly lame, with Tony Martin written all over it.

Tomorrow's finishing climb is at 4% only. Based on this victory I feel his form is definitely better than at Suisse last year, where he performed admirably. I'm still holding out hope for a podium place, because the parcours are screaming for this race to be as timidly fought after as Paris Nice was.

Anyway Aupa Jonathan!

Bolsen3 said...

Yeah, I agree! Week long stage races shouldn't be decided by a TT! We already have Eneco Tour for that! :P

 

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