Raúl García, bronze medal in the Ghent European Track Scratch

A new success for the young values of the Kometa Cycling Team junior coined in the velodromes. Raúl García, from Madrid, won the bronze medal in the European Track Cycling Scratch event that has been taking place since Tuesday at the Vlaams Wielercentrum Eddy Merckx in Gent (Belgium) for the youth and under23 categories.

García finished behind Russian Denis Denis Denisov, gold medal, and Austrian Tim Wafler, silver medalist in a race that took place over 40 laps (10 kilometers). The cyclist from Tres Cantos suffered a crash with six laps to go, at which point the race was stopped and then resumed with seven laps to race, managing to take a lap with his companions on the podium. “I didn’t do anything to myself,” said García. In the sprint, he would achieve that brilliant third position.

“I knew it was good, that I could have options, but in this competition the level is very high and to have achieved this medal has a great value, it is a tremendous high. I’m very happy”, explained the cyclist in statements to the Spanish Cycling Federation. “He was clear that he was not one of the fastest and that we had to try to take a lap or start in the last 10 laps and try to surprise”, he would say about his maneuver to assault the podium.

Both García and Javi Serrano were summoned by coach Raúl Mesa for this continental event. Both were part of the quartet that competes in Pursuit by Teams, a quartet that marked the seventh time in qualifying and managed to pass for the second round. As an individual, Serrano will compete in Omnium, while García, in addition to his presence in Scratch, will also compete in Individual Persecution.

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)