21st April 2018
Local hero notches up Movistar Team’s second win in 2018 with superb attack into final lap of Trofeo Roldán; Alba Teruel (2nd) completes splendid race for Blues
They raced with only three members as most of their team-mates were in Belgium for Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège. But still, the Movistar Team riders present at the 14th Trofeo Roldán -91km, four laps around the village of Roldán in Murcia’s Torre Pacheco- made the most of their collective strength to claim the Blues’ first ever one-two, as Gloria Rodríguez won in front of her home crowd for the second time in her career.
Rodríguez already had a big role on lap two as she made part of an early, seven-woman breakaway, with all major teams into the move. Despite the group’s composition, the insistence by Bizkaia Durango to keep things under control forced Gloria, who had been joined by team-mate Alba Teruel on that attack -Eider Merino was, in turn, part of the main field-, to jump again, this time only in company of Italy’s Alice Maria Arzuffi (BDM). Even after that duo action, which gained more than half a minute’s advantage, was caught with a nine-strong group also including Teruel and Spanish Racing Series leader Ana Usabiaga (ETK), the Murcian did not settle and waited for the final kilometers to attack solo and reach the line ahead of Alba herself (2nd place).
Rodríguez, always committed to teamwork when it’s needed, gets back to winning ways after nine months, following her victories in the Basque Racing Series and the regional ITT championship. Gloria also makes the Blues claim another win after the Movistar Team’s maiden success in 2018, with Mavi García, at the Trofeo Villa de Noja.
REACTION / Gloria Rodríguez:
“Nothing compares to winning at home. I’ve got to no works to express my feelings about this. You just put yourself to a bigger effort you’re able to at any other race, you’ve got all fans cheering for you on the streets – you’re even able to suffer a little bit more! It’s also true that knowing the course better than the rivals gives you some advantage. Knowing how the winds were going to blow, I was keeping in mind that the initial part of the circuit from the start / finish to the west in El Jimenado, and then down south to Torre Pacheco, could help us break the bunch if we rode hard.
“I spent nearly the whole race into the breakaway and I almost cracked before the line (laughs). Despite all those efforts to chase the win, we were still a substantial group at the front near the finish, with Alba and myself in, and we really didn’t want a sprint finish. Alba launched the first attack and made a big selection, which made us continue to try, one after another, so one of us could go solo – which I did. I wanted to have a chance to pay the team back for everything they’re doing fur us, and being able to win at home is even more rewarding.”
