Dascalu wins Los Internacionales de Chelva after a great duel with De Froindmont

The Romanian Dascalu wins in Los Internacionales de Chelva after a battle with De Droindmont during a good part of the race. Campos beat Valero and completed the podium of the tenth edition of Los Internacionales de Chelva.

Dascalu takes the win after a one-on-one battle with De Froindmont

The riders made a clean start in the first few meters where the objective was to get into a good position. The start was without a front group, but there were numerous competitors who remained in the lead.

Dascalu took first place, while Hatherly took second place. Positions were exchanged to cross the finish line. The South African, winner of last year's edition, imposed a high pace that was only answered by Dascalu himself.

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The early attack of the two managed to take about 10 seconds off their rivals. Behind, a nine-rider group, including the Spaniards Campos-Valero-Cullell, was ready to reduce the gap. Even so, Braidot was the one who went solo to chase the two leaders.

Passing the finish line. Braidot at 13 seconds and the big group behind at less than 30 seconds.

Campos and De Froidmont, Orbea Factory Team teammates, caught Braidot's wheel to form a trio behind the lead. Dascalu and Hatherly's lead was broken, the chasing trio was on the wheel and even Loret was able to catch them. The race opened up again with six riders in the lead and a few seconds behind.

The next lap brought new competitors to the front group. As they passed the finish line, Valero and Colledani joined the rest. Almost at the same moment, the former launched an attack. Dascalu and De Froidmont went away a bit, while Hatherly, victim of a flat tyre, had to stop to change the wheel.

The move paid off and they were able to build a 20-second lead. Campos, who looked like he would ride with them, lost momentum and joined the group behind.

Valero took third position and took on the role of leading the chasing group to close the gap with the first riders. The Baza rider demanded an extra effort and that caused some of them to give way. Shortly after, Campos and Hatherly were the only ones able to follow his wheel.

Ahead, De Froidmont took the lead without Dascalu, in the background, relieving him in the effort. However, the pace set by Valero in the second group of the race was gradually cutting the lead.

The next time through the finish line, Dascalu overtook his partner and pushed on. The Belgian was able to withstand the change of pace, while Valero also raised pace with a move that tried to catch the lead. Hatherly remained close to the BH Coloma Team rider and Campos lost contact.

The comeback led by Valero was deflating a bit. Dascalu and De Froidmont still showed no signs of weakness. Last lap. And the leaders with a 26-second lead.

The corners were passing and the De Froidmont-Dascalu duo maintained a close battle that made it very difficult to give a prediction on who would take the victory. A hand to hand that had maintained for many laps and that would soon be resolved.

As happened previously, De Froidmont was the one who was placed first, while Dascalu was stuck to his wheel. Behind, it was Campos who succeeded Valero in the attempt to catch those in front, a mission that already seemed really complicated.

Hostilities began well into the lap. De Froidmont responded to a move by Dascalu to enter a twisty area. The positions remained unchanged until Dascalu made a slip that caused him to drop back and lose a few meters to his rival with only 1 kilometer to go.

Despite the mistake, he was able to rejoin the Belgian in his wake, although without gaining position. And Dascalu recovered completely when he got in parallel with De Froindmont and overtook him on the last downhill to win the duel and take the victory in Chelva.

A great De Froindmont had to settle for second place, while Campos beat Valero to take the third position.