Mancha Real, February 16th – 2nd Stage of Vuelta Ciclista a Andalusia was a triumphant one for BAHRAIN MERIDA. Ion Izaguirre took 4th place, Ondrej Cink 11th and Javier Moreno 12th, also awarded again as the Best Andalusian. Beside that Antonio Nibali won the 1st mountain stage of today’s race.
The 2nd Stage of Vuelta Ciclista a Andalusia is a mountain stage with many different and diverse climbs, but sunny weather and a N/NW wind of 5 km/h indicated that it could become yet another great stage for BAHRAIN MERIDA Pro Cycling Team.
Harald Morscher and Vladimir Miholjević, team directors said in the morning, just before the start of 2nd Stage, that the tactics and plan for our team were similar to the ones yesterday – to cover our leaders Izaguirre, Moreno and Cink and help them with the breakaway, if there will be any from the side of Nibali, Cortina, Novak and Arashiro. The goal was to setup the position for performance on tomorrow’s Time Trail, especially for Ion Izaguirre, since he is the current Spanish Time Trial Champion.
Immediately after the race, Ion Izaguirre commented that it was a great race and that he is thankful to all his teammates and that he is looking forward to tomorrow’s time trail with a good feeling. Ion is very motivated for this big challenge for him and the whole team.
Antonio Nibali who was in the leading group for most of the time of the race expressed his great satisfaction with his performance and his contribution to the team.
Harald Morscher, team director, thanked all our riders and complimented them on how they carried out all the strategic elements that they agreed on before the race. He is happy for Antonio Nibali, who took responsibility and had the courage to go to the breakaway and also that he showed a big heart and maturity. The same goes for Ondrej Cink for his performance on today’s and also yesterday’s race.
“As we have a big challenge tomorrow at the Time Trial, we have to focus forward and tune the team and staff and be very precise for time train. I believe that we can achieve a lot tomorrow as well,” added Vladimir Miholjević, team director.
