Uruguayan cyclist Guillermo Thomas Silva of Kazakhstan's XDS Astana Team claimed his second victory in two days on Spanish roads, winning the Clasica de Castilla y Leon on Sunday, July 26, reports infohub.kz.
This past weekend in Spain featured two classic one-day races: the Clasica Ordizia (the country's oldest professional one-day race, held since 1922) and the Clasica de Castilla y Leon (previously a stage race; in 2006, XDS Astana Team general manager Alexander Vinokourov won it in stage-race format). On Saturday, July 25, Thomas Silva won the 167-kilometer circuit race at the Clasica Ordizia, while his teammate, Italian Cristian Scaroni, finished fourth.
On Sunday, the Kazakh team's riders started as favorites over the 190.6-kilometer route between Benavente and Lubián. Thomas Silva again came out on top, covering the distance in 4 hours, 23 minutes, 41 seconds, and winning the final sprint ahead of Spaniard Roger Adrià of Movistar, who finished with the same time. Scaroni provided crucial assistance in the finale, taking third place also with the same time as the winner.
Another Astana rider, Italian Diego Ulissi, finished eighth, eight seconds back. Austrian Marco Schrettl placed 53rd, 4 minutes 29 seconds behind, and Italian Davide Toneatti was 54th with the same deficit. Italian Simone Zanini took 79th, 14 minutes 53 seconds off the pace. Another Italian Astana rider, Ludovico Mellano, did not finish the race — a total of 26 riders abandoned out of 106 starters.
"This is my second win in two days, and I am really very happy," said Thomas Silva. "First of all, I want to highlight the incredible work of the team today. The guys did a huge job, leaving Cristian Scaroni, Diego Ulissi, and me with every opportunity to fight for the win on the final climb. We played our cards perfectly, and I am very pleased to cap off the team's great work with a victory, along with Scaroni's third place. We feel great when we race together, and I hope we can continue in the same direction," he added.