Worlds: Rodriguez puts past behind him and allies with Valverde
Attacks to soften up opposition for Valverde


Twelve months ago, Joaquim Rodriguez' tears on the podium of the Firenze 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:World Championships expressed better than anything how his best ever chance of taꦑking gold had somehow slippe🍌d through his fingers.
Fast forward a year to Ponferrada, and Rodriguez reaction after the Worlds could not have been more different. Despite finishing 33rd, Rodriguez was clearly satisfied with his race and how the Spanish team had performed collectively.
The two worked coherently as a unit in thꩵe closing kilometres of Ponferrada - something which, until the racing got underway, nobody could have been certain wouಌld happen.
A huge cheer erupted amongst the Spanish fans at the finish when Rodriguez maꦰde one surging attack on the Mirador climb, but as he said afterwards,🦂 he was simply blazing a trail and softening up the opposition for Valverde to make the definitive move a few seconds later.
Rodriguez's one regret, in fact, was that the circuit was not as tough as Florence, saying afterwards, “I was almost glad that it rained, because that toughened things up. The circuit wasn’t as hard as we’d 𝕴anticipated, it was getting very complicated to break the race up and we needed it to be tougher to try and change things.&rd☂quo;
Finally, even if there were more riders in the bunch on the final lap than Rodriguez would have likܫed, the Spanish plan w𒁏as able to swing into place.
“We did what we had discussed, I had to go for it a li꧙ttle furthe♕r out than planned but that was the only difference.”
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“Alejandro had commented that he wanted to attack more or less where he did in the Spanish nationals this June and to do anythi🌊ng before than wouldn’t make sense. But that’s what the rest of us were there for.”
“The work Dani Moreno did to pull back the break, plus what Jonathan Castroviejo did too, all the team in fact, it was all to the good. The💯n I attacked to allow Alejandro to go over the top of my move.”
“It was a very complicated﷽ circuit for us, so we can’t be unhappy about how it went. Above all, I’m very pleased with how we rac🎀ed.”
Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.