Team News: Joaquim Rodriguez 2nd at Vuelta

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Katusha team leader Joaquim Rodriguez finished second in the 2015 Vuelta a España in Madrid

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Team News: Joaquim Rodriguez 2nd at Vuelta

Team Katusha leader Joaquim Rodriguez became the runner-up of the Spanish Grand-Tour Vuelta a España 2015, which ended in Madrid. Rodriguez took the second podium place in the final general classification of the race. Dani Moreno finished 9th overall.

The winner of the Vuelta-2015 became Fabio Aru of Astana. Joaquim Rodriguez is at 57-seconds behind him. Third place on the podium went to Rafal Majka from Tinkoff-Saxo, 1 minute and 9 seconds behind the winner.

Rodriguez

Pic: Tim De Waele/Katusha

“I can say that I am very happy with my result. A second place in the Vuelta a España is a nice achievement after three super hard and tension-filled weeks of racing with the strongest rivals. I think I had a successful Vuelta – I took second place on the final podium, won an important mountain stage, for one day took the red jersey and won the white jersey”.

“I want to thank my team, all the guys who gave their best to provide me a chance to step up on the podium in Madrid. I am 36 and I’m still among the best of the best. It is a pleasure to know this. I would like to congratulate Fabio Aru with the final victory in the Vuelta. It is a well-deserved and beautiful success, – said Joaquim Rodriguez after the finish of the stage 21”.

Sports director José Azevedo said afterwards “I am very happy with the result. You know, our ambition was to fight for the general classification. We were close. In one moment we took the jersey before the second rest day. We finished in second place and in every mountain stage Joaquim and the whole team were among the first. The team was really strong here in the Vuelta, from the beginning until the end all the guys were focused and gave their best for the team’s result”.

“In the last week the riders worked hard in the breakaways, tried to get their own results, but immediately when we asked them, they came back to help Joaquim. It is 100% dedication to the common goals. So I am very, very happy with the results, with the performance, and with the behavior of the riders”.

The final, 21st stage of the Vuelta a España started in Alcalá de Henares and ended after 97,8 km of racing in Madrid. The stage, as predicted, ended with the massive sprint won by John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Alpecin). Second place went to Trek Factory Racing’s Danny van Poppel, while the daily podium was completed by Jean-Pierre Drucker of BMC.

The second place in the final classification is the best-ever result for Joaquim Rodriguez in the Vuelta a España. In addition to the final podium, Katusha’s rider won the white combination jersey, only losing the green points jersey on the final stage due to a mechanical before the sprint point taking him out of position to defend.

Team Katusha holds a solid lead in the UCI WorldTour team ranking after Vuelta a España, scoring 1526 points, with 107 points more than Movistar, placing second.

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