March 21...
The day started brisk with temps low enough to call for armwarmers and
legwarmers as the race started out at 7:30am. As the sun came out and the
mist lifted the days temps got hot and so did the racing.

With the 210Km race just North of Montevideo, Uruguay iomega-Orbea was
represented by Jukich and Casella fine tuning their form like most now in
Uruguay for the Vuelta just over 10 days away.

Breaks were attempted almost from the gun. With no full teams present it
was difficult for any one team to control the race and each break got
reeled back in. Casella was even a bit active in some moves to test his legs and soon realised he had easily four more hours of racing to go. The pace setled with about 100km remaining as a lone rider got a gap and opened it up to a max of just over 4 minutes.

As the race entered the last 60km the toughest hills were present and
Jukich tried to get away with no success. After a series of hills the pack
split with a small group off the front only to regroup just before they
turned into a stiff crosswind.

There the chase was on as the leader was within 2 minutes and as the pack
put it in the gutter the field split again into three groups with Jukich
and Casella making the first group.

Casella couldn´t hold on and as they made the last turn towards the
finishing town, Casella got absorbed by the second peleton and the first group were off to catch the leader.

The peloton was driving hard and with 5km to go Gonzalo Tagliabue, a
iomega-Orbea prospect, took a huge turn at the front to set up his team and pulled off with 1km to go and within sight of the lone leader. At 800 meters from the line Jukich jumped the sprinters and exploded out of the pack driving to the line with another rider in tow. They came within seconds of the leader who won after his 100km solo move and Jukich got nipped at the line thus taking third for the day.

A huge step for Esteban as its his first podium in the Elite catagory and
less than two weeks before the Vuelta´s start its a huge confidence
booster.

Esteban commented on the radio after the race..."Its really amazing that
the plan I set up with Gary back in late September is all coming together
just like we had set out. A podium was a goal we set this year before the
Vuelta. To do it and just before the Vuelta give me lots of confidence.
I am really happy and am looking forward to the Vuelta looking to chase
after goals we set for myself there."

Casella finished his 210km race just behind the second peloton.

Stay tuned for more team iomega-Orbea news.