From Lazcano’s Impulse to Landa’s Top 5

Yesand it ended Tour de France 2024 and Spanish cycling leaves the French Tour empty-handed. After the peak of last season, when we raised our hands three times (Ion Izaguirre, Pello Bilbao and Carlos Rodriguez), our team leaves France with better feelings than with results. Spanish cycling is returning to the reality of recent years. 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 ended with zero, 2024 too.

It won’t be for lack of trying. There’s little to object to. scene hunter national. After the early defeats of Ion Izaguirre and Pello Bilbao, the two stage winners last year, as well as the defeats of Juan Ayuso and Jesús Herrada, Spain was soon left without some runners who already know what it’s like to raise their hands in competition. Grand Tour stages. Various diseases have robbed us of some of our best qualities, which were necessary for celebrating the victory.

The most offensive version of Movistar

With Enric Mas far from the top of the general classification from the first stages, the Spanish team reinvented itself and wanted a stage win more than ever. It was not to be, but the telephone team came close to winning on several occasions. The great Lazcano put the Navarrese team in the spotlight almost every day when a breakaway was forming. Remembering the day on the dirt roads that ended Aranburu fourth place at the finish, but it gave Movistar an impressive performance with Lazcano And blunt also in the escape.

This was not the only day that the Navarrese searched for him. Lazcano himself had honey on his lips when he finished fifth on Campenaerts’ victory day.. It was clear to the Spaniard that he had to follow the Belgian’s wheel, but he was unable to close the gap. Despite this, his Tour left unforgettable moments. Escaped on the day of the Galibier, when he was the head of the Tourmalet… Memories that those from Vitoria will take with them forever.

Another man who finished the Tour feeling better than he had in the early stages was Enric Mas.. The Majorcan shone his light in the second stage of the race, taking two third places. The new version of Enric showed the public a much more attractive way of running than they had seen so far from the Movistar leader. The legs he showed last week should serve as motivation for the rest of the season.

Mikel Landa and Carlos Rodriguez, top ten

As for the general, Spain quickly lost Juan Ayuso and Pello Bilbao.. Because of this, we don’t even get out of the top ten. Great Mikel Landa He held off his team leader Evenepoel and took a valuable fifth place. The Sudalian shone again and gave us a career at the level of his best versions. He could not freely search for stages, but seemed very happy with his role on the bike. In LaVuelta we will surely see a great version of Mikel again.

Carlos Rodriguez For his part, he leaves the Tour with a more sour feeling than last year. That fifth place and the 2023 stage win set the bar very high for this competition. Despite the obvious fatigue in the final stages, the INEOS rider confirmed that he had insured his life by finishing seventh overall. There is a lot of strength in those legs to repeat such a result in the best race in the world without finding his best version. Two fourth places on stage show he is close to getting his hands on him again in France.

The bravery of the “Spanish Arqueia”

Christian Rodriguez And Raul Garcia Pierna They set the bar very high for Spaniards abroad. The two Arkea cyclists fought day after day in the breakaway to bring glory to their team’s Tour. On one of the best stages of the Tour, seeing Christian among the best climbers of the race was one of the joys of the Tour. Raúl, for his part, having arrived in France on alarm, showed signs of being sure to be fit for the escape. The performance presented on his first tour makes it clear that it will not be his last.

Spain’s best positions at the 2024 Tour de France

• Stage 2 – Carlos Rodriguez (4th place)
• Stage 4 – Juan Ayuso (3rd)
• Stage 9 – Aranburu (4th place)
• Stage 14 – Carlos Rodriguez (4th place)
• Stage 15 – Mikel Landa (4th place)
• Stage 17 – Enric Mas (3rd)
• Stage 18 – Oyer Lazcano (5th place)
• Stage 20 – Enric Mas (5th place)