Constantino Zaballa wins final stage and Javier Moreno takes overall Victory in Vuelta Asturias
Constantino Zaballa won the fifth and final stage of the 55th Tour of Asturias Julio Alvarez Mendo on Monday. This was Zaballa's took second stage of the season. The race started in Tartiere Auto and ended at Alto del Naranco.
The 32-year-old Zaballa took a total of 4 hours, 29 minutes and 40 seconds to cover the distance of 175.8 kilometres. The race leader Javier Moreno of Caja Rural team was in second place with the same finishing time as Zaballa.
Charles Wegelius of United Healthcare Pro Cycling team finished third with difference of 4 seconds. Toribio Alcolea, Luis Pasamontes and Sergey Belykh were in seventh, eighth and ninth place respectively.
The first break came just after a few kilometres. A group of three riders attacked early in the race, including Gorka Izagirre of Euskaltel-Euskadi, Rafael Infantino of EPM-UNE and Kirill Sveshnikov of the Russian Federation team.
In the first six classified climbs of the stage, Rafael Infantino of EPM-UNE was the one who scored maximum points in the race.
El Violeo was just behind with 8 kilometres remaining as Infantino got an early lead which decided his fate. The break was expected to help the chasers catch-up, but it all went in vain as Infantino crossed the finish line and claimed the mountain jersey.
In the final sprint of the race, Moreno enjoyed the best from and made the right moves, but in the last few kilometres, Moreno couldn’t control the situation and Zaballa took the lead ahead of the others riders.
Previously, Zaballa was first overall in Vuelta a Asturias and also grabbed his fifth stage. In 2009 he was in second spot in the Spanish National Road Race Championships.
Javier Moreno of Caja Rural retained his position at the head of the five-stage race and took the overall leader jersey with the timing of 21 hours, 31 minutes and 57 seconds.
Constantino Zaballa Gutierrez was runner-up with the difference of 9 seconds behind Javier. Sergio Ferreira Sousa was in third spot with the difference of 1 minute and 3 seconds.
A quick view of the top five in the Vuelta Asturias so far, is as follows;
1. Constantino Zaballa Gutierrez (Spa) Miche – Guerciotti, 4hrs:29min: 40secs
2. Javier Moreno Bazan (Spa) Caja Rural
3. Charles Wegelius (GBr) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling, 4secs
4. José Herrada Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural, 14secs
5. Christian Meier (Can) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling, 16secs
General classification after stage 5:
1. Javier Moreno Bazan (Spa) Caja Rural, 21hrs: 31min: 57secs
2. Constantino Zaballa Gutierrez (Spa) Miche – Guerciotti, 9secs
3. Sergio Ferreira Sousa (Por) Barbot – Efapel, 1min, 3secs
4. Hernani Broco (Por) LA – Antarte, 1min, 16secs
5. Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez (Spa) Movistar, 2min: 10secs
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