Hermida wins Spanish cross country title

Jose Hermida won the eighth Spanish cross country national title of his career this weekend.

"Competing at the Nationals after a few weeks without racing always leaves you in doubt of how things will be. I have trained well and the feeling was good, but you don’t know how your body will react when you squeeze it to the limit," said Hermida.

It was on the second lap that Hermida took the lead and only Sergio Mantecon could follow him.

"[Carlos] Coloma was riding like a bullet right from the start and opened a few seconds on the rest of the favourites, but it was impossible to hold that pace the entire race," said Hermida. "In the second lap, I was riding comfortably and I decided to take the lead. Mantecón came with me, but a
mechanical on his bike left me alone leading the race".

From that moment, Hermida has played with that gap of about half a minute. "That gap gave me some confidence, but even better were the feelings I had on the bike. I was riding easy and I knew that I had the power to increase the pace if necessary."

Rocio Martin Rodriguez won the elite women's race ahead of Anna Villar.

Results