Golden beaches and warm blue skies, the start of Costa Blanca Bike Race stage 1 could have been a dream of any cyclist. After a short dash through the streets of Benidorm the international field of athletes were treated to a fantastic route with some truly amazing singletrack.
Sadly after 30km of the route course tape had been removed causing a large quantity of riders to take an incorrect turn. The organisers issued the following info, “Even having sent 4 motorbikes to verify today’s stage just an hour before the departure, there have been acts of vandalism changing and removing markings. Due to this reason, many of the participants got lost lost at several points along the course after kilometre 33. For this reason the UCI has decided that all participants will receive the same time for today’s stage. The podium has been drawn up based on the order at kilometre 33.”
Posted by Costa Blanca Bike Race on Thursday, 28 January 2016
The organisers made the right decision to give everyone the same time. The last 10km’s in particular would have been impossible to follow without a GPS file which I had on my Garmin. It was a shame for Tom and me as we’d practised this stage and we were using the knowledge to our advantage closing in on a top 20 finish. The one section we had not pre ridden actually turned out to be the most technical, luckily I just held onto my new Turner Czar and it got me through. Tom’s little 27” wheeled hardtail looked like an angry bull at times trying to kick him off, he did a great job to keep things under control at those speed.
Once the results were adjusted CST Superior Brentjens took victory of the first stage in both the elite men’s and women’s categories. Jirka Novák and Sebastian, plus Yana Belomoina and Margot Moschetti will wear the blue leader’s jerseys tomorrow.
Despite the results it was actually a great day on the bike. Roll on what will hopefully be a more successful stage 2! 43km’s and 1431 meters of ascent are scheduled, it might not sound like much but on this rocky demanding terrain it’s hard going.
Costa Blanca Bike Race