On just his third day as an intern at AG2R Citroën, Bastien Tronchon achieved a wonderful victory at level 3 of the Vuelta a Burgos in Villarcayo. The 20-year-old overtook Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) after surviving the first breakaway. ascent of the Picón Blanco.
Tronchón, who had competed in a professional career before heading to Burgos, followed Sivakov to the end, motivated by the general. After sticking to Sivakov’s wheel on the last climbs of the day, Tronchón waited to hit the wind until the last meters of the 156 km. level to get an outstanding first victory.
Meanwhile, Sivakov, who attacked 39 km in the White Picon, took the lead in the race when he and Tronchón crossed the finish line 28 seconds ahead of the peloton. Alejandro Valverde led the peloton at home for 3rd place, as his Movistar team failed to make a contribution to the hunt for the two leaders.
Sivakov now leads the race in the general classification with 23 seconds ahead of former leader Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), while Ruben Guerreiro (EF Education-EasyPost), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) and Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) are next. in line with 3 seconds to the end.
The 3rd stage of the Vuelta a Burgos with 8 riders less than the 2nd, as the terrible mass fall of the last kilometer wreaked havoc on the peloton.
For those who were able to continue, the attack occurred from the beginning of level 3. However, it will be some time before the day’s leak forms. It is only about forty-five kilometers from the level that an organization in front gained.
Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma) led the way, the Italian joined the break by Tronchón, Jesús Ezquerra (Burgos-BH), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Vojtech Repa (Kern Pharma).
Shortly after the departure of this group, Ibai Azurmendi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Edward Ravasi (Eolo-Kometa) set out to cross, taking seven men ahead after a few kilometers of pursuit.
However, the pair did last too long in the movement, abandoning the escape on the rolling roads long before Picón Blanco. For their part, the survivors endured a merit of 4h30 before the greatest difficulty of the day, which measured 8 km at 9. 2%.
While Victorious Bahrain controlled stage race leader Buitrago, Affini’s time trial was the first to come out of the breakaway. Ezquerra was next, then Tronchon did yo-yo in the back as the climb progressed.
With 40 km to go, Tronchon gave up while Nicolau and Repa continued alone in front. Further back, meanwhile, Ineos and Sivakov set up their move as Geoghegan Hart jumped first with Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan) on his wheel.
A kilometer later, and with this move returned, Sivakov threw himself alone in what would turn out to be an attack that would change the race. The 25-year-old attracted Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Qazaqstan), the duo despite everything. controlled to reach Nicolau and Repa the first stages of the descent full of fog.
On the descent, the scenario changed again, with Lopez and Repa struggling to keep in touch as Tronchon made an impressive descent to Sivakov and Nicolau.
What followed on the flat roads, with EF and Bora-Hansgrohe advancing at 1:10 behind, a slow wear of Nicolau as Sivakov continued to lead the leading trio. The Spaniard exploded on an unclassified climb 15km from the finish, while Lopez and Repa were back in the peloton at the 10km mark.
The time gap narrowed to less than a minute in alto de Bocos, 8 km away, with Guerreiro launching a futile attack on the climb while Tronchón stubbornly clung to Sivakov.
The young Frenchman nevertheless did several laps, all in the last 3 kilometers of the day, but did not waste his power before a two-man end of the race.
There, although Sivakov has not taken as long as he expected a few kilometers before, it is possible that the two men will leave satisfied with the result. Tronchon left with a win that few, at least he expected, while Sivakov now proves a solid position to run towards the overall victory over the Neila Lagoons on Saturday.
Results driven through FirstCycling (opens in a new tab)
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Daniel Ostanek is editor-in-chief of Cyclingnews, joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and was later hired as editor. Prior to joining the team, he had written for most of the leading publications in the world of cycling, adding CyclingWeekly, Rouleur and Tips for Cyclists.
Daniel reported on racing in the world, adding the Tour de France and the Spring Classics, and interviewed several of the sport’s biggest stars, adding Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Mark Cavendish, Demi Vollering and Anna van der Breggen.
In addition to the original reporting, story and report writing, and production work, Daniel also directs The Leadout newsletter and oversees the season’s How to Watch guides. His favourite races are the Strade Bianche and the Volta a Portugal, and he drives a Colnago C40. .
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