Burgos BH closed its second participation in the Langkawi Tour with a good feeling and a new prize. Mario Aparicio kept the mountain jersey that he had achieved in the fourth stage until the end and took the podium as the best climber of the race. The Arandino confirms in this way that 2024 has been his best year as a professional, adding this success to those achieved in Sharjah and Qinghai. His teammate José Manuel Díaz was also close to achieving a medal. The climber from Jaen fought for bonuses in the last intermediate sprint, where he finished in fourth place. Had he been third, he would have climbed to third place in the general classification. He finally finished sixth, just 20 seconds behind the race winner.
The last stage of the Malaysian race ending in Bintulu was resolved in a sprint. Burgos BH had no luck in the last few days, since they lost their sprinter due to a fall. Antonio Angulo, who arrived in good shape, crashed at the finish of the fifth stage and had to abandon the race with a deep injury to his knee. The purple team then focused its efforts on helping José Manuel in the general classification, since Aparicio’s mountain jersey was virtually won. The purple ones finished sixth in the team ranking, in addition to having four men in the top-30 overall. Burgos BH now travels to China to compete in its last test of the season, the Taihu Lake Tour, which will start next Wednesday.
David Echavarri (sports director): “The balance we make of this week is positive. We have achieved the mountain with Mario and a top-10 in the general classification, although the objective was to have won a stage with Chava or Jackson and to have been on the podium with José. We lacked a little luck at specific moments in the race, which is what marked the general classification. The attitude of the runners has been very good every day. They ran offensively and were very focused on the race. Today they showed it in the last intermediate sprint, in which everyone worked so that José Manuel could get the bonus. I would give the team a grade this week. The negative note was the fall of Chava, who was in a good moment and was getting into the sprints. I have also seen Martín very well. It is the first time he has run eight days in a row and against professionals. Of course he was nervous at the beginning, but he ran well. “He has been where he should be, working very well for his teammates, so we are very happy with him.”
2024-10-07 11:23:31