Moreno wins in Montjuïc

By Antonio J. Salmerón

Spanish climber Daniel Moreno (Relax - Gam), who was fresh off winning a stage in Mexico's Vuelta a Chihuahua, won the Escalada a Montjuïc Sunday. The race included a 24.4km road race and a 10km hill climb individual time trial.

Moreno, Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) and Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel - Euskadi ) arrived at the same time at the end of the road race, the first part of the event. They had a five second advantage over Igor Antón (Euskaltel - Euskadi), who won in 2006, and even more time on everyone else. Local Predictor-Lotto's Josep Jufré followed 16 seconds later.

With the trio going into the second part of the event all at the same time, the promising 26 year-old Moreno did not think of victory in the time trial; yet he capitalized on his peak form and won in 15'52" with a two second advantage over the Asturian Sánchez. Sánchez may have been feeling the effects of his third place finish in the Giro di Lombardia the previous day.

"This is a very important race with many important riders who came here for winning, so that it was very difficult to think on getting the victory," Moreno explained to the media after the event.

Sánchez overtook Sastre for second in the overall classification. The event also marked the end of the career of Spaniard Angel Edo who has raced for the Portuguese Vitoria ASC team.