Edward Ravasi celebrates new UAE Team Emirates deal with strong Vuelta a Espana ride

Sport360 staff 23:54 07/09/2018
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  • It was Edward Ravasi’s turn to show his attacking prowess on Friday’s stage at Vuelta a Espana, with the Italian securing a ninth place finish following another exciting day at the saddle.

    The youngster – who has agreed a new deal that keeps him in UAE Team Emirates colours for another two years – played his cards early and went with a large breakaway of 32 riders and stuck with the group for the majority of the race.

    With just 2.5km to go and the agonising summit finish, big attacks came from the breakaway group, with Ravasi holding his nerve to secure the Emirati team’s second consecutive top 10 finish.

    It was a tough day for all riders, with steep hills and two categorised climbs to deal with, on what was a mostly uphill course from the off. The summit finish saw a handful of riders attempt to pull away, but it was the Oscar Rodriguez (Euskadi – Murias) who crossed the line first to take home an extraordinary stage win.

    Commenting on the race, Ravasi said: “I would like to thank the team for the opportunity. I would have liked to have achieved a top five result, but top 10 is a good result considering the climbers in the group.

    “It was not easy in the break and it was very difficult to manage the approach to the climb because some teams were represented by more than one rider. It was necessary to close the gap, this cost a lot of energy.”

    UAE Team Emirates’ Fabio Aru continues his pursuit of a top 10 General Classification (GC) finish and now sits 17th in the overall standings.

    It will be another day amidst the mountains tomorrow with riders facing a 171km route from Cistierna to Les Praeres de Nava.

    With a short but steep hill coming at 3km, the breakaway could choose to make their move early, ahead of the category two climb that features at 50km.

    Once the peloton reach the summit, it’s a long downhill stretch for over 20km before tackling two category one and a category three climb.

    The final 4km will be played out on a steep, 12.5-per-cent incline and the winner will have to have conserved some energy to tackle the summit which has never appeared at the Vuelta.

    STAGE 13 RESULTS

    1. Oscar Rodriguez (Spa) Euskadi – Murias – 4:17:05
    2. Rafal Majka (Pol) BORA hansgrohe – 0:19+
    3. Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team – 0:30+
    4. Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates – 1:25+

    GENERAL CLASSIFICATION STANDINGS

    1. Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis – 54:50:19
    2. Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott – 1:42+
    3. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team – 1:50+
    4. Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates – 4:19+

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