April 15/08 1:44 am - Bisaro Second in Spanish Gran Premio

Posted by Editor on 04/15/08
 

Bisaro Second in Spanish Gran Premio
Courtesy Sylvain Badia

Photos

We were in Barcelona this weekend (April 13th) to race the Super Prestigio MassiI y Gran Premio Massi '08 in Barcelona.

The race was held in the Olympic park and around the Montjuïc Castle from where you have a great view of the Mediterranean Sea on one side and the city of Barcelona on the other side.

The multiple events have been put together by ocisport.net and you could enjoy a big bike show gathering all the bike industry, a round of the UCI MTB Trial World Cup and the Super Prestigio Massi, a class 1 UCI race counting as the third round of the Gran Premi Massi Copa Catalana International.

Two Canadians were racing on the weekend in the elite categories - Kiara Bisaro (Team Opus-OGC) and Seamus McGrath (Team Fuji).

The course was not very technical but had a lot of slippery corners that were difficult to negotiate, and by misjudging your speed or your line, you could have a bite of the Catalan dust.

The weather was great with over 23C on both days of the weekend, allowing racers to wear their short sleeves and work on their tan lines.

In the women's race, Kiara Bisaro and her Opus Fhast 1 took a strong start with Cecile Rode-Ravanel (Team Lapierre) and Anna Villar (Team Massi). These three girls stayed very close all the race, until in the third lap Cecile Ravanel opened a gap on Kiara and took the lead until she crossed the finish line. After 4 laps Cecile Rode-Ravanel crossed the line for first place, following by Kiara Bisaro and Anna Villar to complete the podium.

1 Cecile Ravanel (Fra) Team Lapierre International 1:08:04
2 Kiara Bisaro (Can) Team Opus-OGC at 0:51
3 Anna Villar (Esp) Massi 1:11
4 Francisca Campos (Esp) Massii 2:27
5 Sandra Santanyes (Esp) Cemelorca Seguros 4:21


For the Men's Race:

From the start the strongest riders among the large field were at the front: the Spaniards Alejandro Diaz de La Pena, Juan Pedro Tujillo, Carlos Coloma, and Ivan Alvarez, France's Cedric Ravanel and Canada's Seamus McGrath.

A mechanical caused McGrath to lose contact with the leaders and he crossed the line in sixth place.

1 Ivan Alvarez (Esp) Giant 1:29:11
2 Juan Pedro Tujillo (Esp) Cemelorca Seguros at 0:23
3 Alejandro Diaz de La Pena (Esp) C.C. Tierra 0:27
4 Cedric Ravanel (Fra) Team Lapierre International 0:55
5 Marti Gispert (Esp) ECP-Tau Ceramica 1:17
6 Seamus McGrath (Can) Team Fuji 2:02