Sagan prevails in Mataró.Toni Albir / EFE
In Mataró, sprint and victory for Peter Sagan, and Alejandro Valverde is so happy that he runs fast to congratulate the Slovak three-time world champion who put the gold medal on the podium of the Innsbruck 2018 World Cup.
He is 10 years younger than the Murcian (31 and 41 almost), but Sagan is also part of the generation that wants to sweep the new
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cycling
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represented in the sixth stage by the crazy horse Rémi Cavagna, 25 years old, the tremendous Deceunick wheeler, capable in just 12 kilometers of attacking twice a platoon that was rolling at 70 per hour, of jumping to abort Lobato's attack in the last kilometer and of unintentionally launching the sprint to Sagan, who easily surpassed Impey and Molano on a light uphill straight, the way he likes them
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And that's why Valverde is happy, fourth overall, just 14s from the podium held by three Ineos runners (Adam Yates, Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas, in that order), because Sagan motivates him, due to the generational vindication of the great Slovak, and, of course, for his recovery from the covid that he began to suffer in February, marked by his victory in the Volta a Catalunya, a race in which he is to accumulate kilometers and because he did not see himself prepared to challenge the youngsters for the triumphs in the fortnight holy of pavés, the classic flamenco and french in which he is also a specialist.
"I arrived in Catalonia without a rest day after the Tirreno-Adriatico and the Milan-San Remo and the Volta have been six very tough stages, so I'm a bit tired," says the winner of the Roubaix and Flanders.
"But I am very happy to win again, especially after the two bad months that I have spent with the covid."
110 years ago, the Volta brought modernity to Spain
Valverde and Sagan are two winners who love each other, the most winners of the squad today, 130 victories for the Murcian, 115 for the Bora rider, including that of Mataró, the first of the year 2021 after a 2020 in which he obtained so many second places (13) that it was not until the tenth stage of the Giro that he obtained his first victory (and on the run) that he began to be jokingly called the Poulidor of the 21st century.
And dazzling new phenomena - Evenepoel, Van Aert, Van der Poel - stole the hearts of their fans.
The Spanish fan has not yet found phenomena that can resemble Valverde, although encouraging news reaches him from Italy and San Marino.
There, the young national boomers continue to amaze.
The Toledo Javier Romo, who has arrived at Astana at age 21 having run only three cycling races as an under 23 because until then he was one of the great promises of the Spanish triathlon, finished second the fourth stage of the Settimana Coppi e Bartali and has concluded fifth overall, 39s behind Danish Jonas Vingegaard, a 24-year-old phenomenon who already stood out on the Angliru stage last Vuelta.
And in the last stage, Juan Ayuso, from Alicante, already sixth in the fourth stage, was fifth.
Ayuso runs in the Italian Colpack, on loan from the UAE, and although he is still at a youth age (18 years old), his progression and strength are such that Tadej Pogacar's team, with whom he shares a coach, is seriously thinking about raising him to the WorldTour level. .
A third young Spaniard who shone in Italy, 20-year-old Carlos Rodríguez from Granada, at Ineos, had to retire after breaking his collarbone in a fall on Friday.
The generation Z cycling rebellion
The Catalan race ends on Sunday with an ascent to Montjuïc Castle, in Barcelona, in which if it seems difficult for Yates to lose the lead, Valverde can attack the podium.
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