Mireia Benito, after completing the double in the women's category of the Nationals: "I wanted to leave with the feeling of having fought my hardest"

The Catalan Mireia Benito (AG Insurance – Soudal) won the title of national champion in the elite women’s category of the Spanish Championships, which are held in Sabiñánigo (Huesca) between June 25 and 28.

Benito added his first national online win after the four consecutive time trials he has accumulated, including the one he obtained last Thursday. Two cyclists from the Movistar team shared the rest of the podium: Sara Martin was second and Paula Ostiz third.

The road races are organized around a 26.5 kilometer circuit with 445 meters of accumulated elevation gain. The biggest challenge in that section was the climb to Latas (3.3 kilometers at 4.8%). The women, sub-23 and elite at the same time, would do five laps, for a total of 129.7 kilometers.

The race was marked by heat and low temperatures. Paula Blasi (UAE), the main favorite, and Usa Ostolaza (Kutxa Labor). The first to attack was the Eulen-Amenabar cyclist Maite Urteaga. In a few kilometers, the one from Zumaia, second this year in the Ciudad de Eibar Grand Prix, took an advantage of around 50 seconds.

Urteaga arrived alone at the first step across the finish line and, afterwards, her margin over the peloton only grew. The second time he crossed the finish line, he was already more than two minutes ahead. The third, about three minutes.

Behind, the platoon had undergone selections and regroupings. With two laps to go, the favorites remained in the front group, such as Sara Martín, Paula Ostiz (Movistar), the UAE cyclist Mavi García or the national time trial champion Mireia Benito (AG Insurance – Soudal). In no man’s land, between Eulen-Amenabar and what remained of the peloton, Iurani Blanco (Human Powered Health) stayed.

Urteaga’s persecution

With just over 30 kilometers to go, with Urteaga still 2:30 ahead, that group became agitated. Chasing the Human Powered Health runner were Sandra Alonso (Eneicat-Becall), bronze in the time trial this Thursday, and Sara Martín. They caught Iurani Blanco, but they met again with the rest of the favorites.

Maite Urteaga He crossed the finish line for the last time before the end with a 1:46 lead over that group. In it, Mavi Garcia She tried to get her teammates to collaborate in the relays. With 20 kilometers to go, the UAE’s Sara Martín, Paula Ostiz, Mireia Benito and Sandra Alonso separated from the rest and went after Urteaga, who was a minute away.

Zumaia’s race was neutralized by the five favorites with 4.8 kilometers remaining. On that slope, the penultimate one before the finish line climb, Mireia Benito attacked, and Mavi García took her wheel. On the way down, they were caught up by the two Movistar cyclists, Sandra Alonso and Maite Urteaga, who did not want to give up the medals.

On the final climb, with all six of them facing the climb at the same time, the first to start was Mireia Benito, and no one could catch up with her. Behind, the two Movistar crossed the finish line almost at the same time, leaving Mavi García on the edge of the podium. In the elite category, Sandra Alonso, fifth overall, won the gold.

The competition, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, continues on Saturday, after the women’s under-23 and elite road race, with the men’s under-23; and on Sunday, the culmination will be the elite men’s road race.

The words of Mireia Benito

The winner Mireia Benito declared that she wanted to leave “with the feeling of having fought hard” after attacking the final climb to become elite national champion.

“It sounds like a cliché, but I really don’t believe it. It was very chaotic, there was a moment when there was no collaboration, it was strange to understand the dynamics. In the last meters I didn’t want to give up anything: if I arrive, I arrive, if they pass me, they pass me, but I wanted to leave with the feeling of having fought my hardest. It’s a dream,” he began.

The one from AG Insurance-Soudal explained that the race dynamics had been “strange”: “We had been feeling a little strange all day, start, stop. I was going with the intention of trying it to the fullest, I saw that everyone was the same.”

It is the first national online win for the Catalan, after the four she had already won in the time trial, including the one she obtained last Thursday on the same roads. She was seen visibly excited after crossing the finish line.

“This is the best. The victories are very good, but the results don’t remain, the experiences remain. Having family and friends here is something incredible. They had always told me that to win you have to step on others, and I have never felt that, I have always liked to run to give my best version. I thought I was never going to win, but having achieved it here shows me that you don’t have to step on anyone,” he concluded.

Benito had already been fourth in the Vuelta a Burgos and fifth in the Volta a Catalunya this season, as well as sixteenth in the Giro d’Italia.