Amidst a war on Ukraine's territory, the nation's most prolific rider in the peloton
Mark Padun has won the final stage of the new
Gran Camiño stage-race in northwestern Spain, giving him an important spotlight in such a complicated period.
“I cannot be completely happy, because of what is happening in my country, but I want to share this victory with all of my citizens. I am here and I am supporting them as much as I can through this situation. I am following and want to say Slava Ukraini," Padun said after the race, with a statement similar to what is shared in the peloton as most winners on the weekend kept the Ukrainian nation in mind. Padun himself was born in the region of Donetsk which was a target of an invasion in 2014, which forced him to move away, having had his family move to the USA shortly after aswell.
At Gran Camiño this past week he came as one of the team leaders but found himself in an unexpected scenario of sole leadership as he showed good legs and saw Hugh Carthy lacking that top-end form. The American team won the opening stage with Magnus Cort Nielsen, and Padun won the final time-trial with a surprising performance in the 15.8 kilometer long hilly route around Sarria.
“I was hoping to be in the top three, but I didn’t think I really could win this. I also want to say thank you to my girlfriend because she’s been following me the whole race and writing to me every day," he added.
Team DS Juan Manuel Garate has shared the feeling: "Super happy. It was the first time that he did a time trial with high goals. Sometimes you have time trials you just go from A to B but in this case he wanted to do well. He was super concentrated and super motivated to do it well and I think that everything went super. All the team was super happy to see him smiling in the bus after the race. It was a special moment, I can tell you."
Padun will be at Tirreno-Adriatico soon where he should once again be a part of the overall classification fight.
