Edgardo Simon wins opening stage of Tour do Rio 2011 - Cycling News
Edgurdo Simon (Padaria Real / Caloi / CEU Azul / Alimentos) showed his good effort in the first stage of Tour do Rio 2011 on Wednesday, July 27.
The race started in Rio de Janeiro and ended in Angra dos Reis. The 36-year-old Argentinean professional cyclists took the total of 3 hours, 12 minutes and 25 seconds to cover the distance of 149.5 kilometres.
After finishing the stage, Simon admitted, "The roads weren't very good because they were unpredictable – it was complicated, but the view of the sea and the coast made up for it. It was very important for me to win today because I'm fighting for overall."
Rafael Andriato was runner-up and Marco Coledan finished third with the same timing of the sprinter. The ten cyclists crossed the final line with the same timing of Simon.
Javier Eduardo Gomez Pineda of EPM – UNE was in good form and tried to take a part in the leading cyclists but failed and grabbed 11th place with the difference of 11 seconds ahead of Filippo Fortin and Edoardo Costanzi.
With 40 kilometres to go, the group of 11 cyclists made their first breakaway. Trevigiani rider Andrei Nechita took the maximum bonus points in the King of Mountain with two cyclists including Renato Seabra (Funvic/Marcondes Cesar/Pindamonhangaba) and Antonio
Nascimento (Clube DataRo de Ciclismo/Foz do Iguaçu).
The breaks divided the cyclists into two and five groups while in the final kilometres Rafael Andriato increased his pace but failed and Simon took a lead ahead of the other cyclists.
Simon further added, "So it was just kinda like the roulette nature of these breaks – you can't cover all of them; we were already short-handed because we lost a guy and we were saving a sprinter, whereas some teams finished with seven or eight guys. But
there's plenty of fight left."
Previously, Simon took fourth place in Giro de Juan Koslay. He took second place in the first stage and also grabbed fifth place in the third stage of Tour de San Luis.
Simon took the overall standing with the timing of 3 hours, 12 minutes and 12 seconds while Andriato was runner-up 7 seconds behind Simon.
Marco Coledan was in third place with the difference of 9 seconds ahead of Antonio Xavier.
The next stage will start in Volta Redonda and end in Three Rivers. All the cyclists will cover the distance of 165.7 kilometres.
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