Hermida had carefully prepared himself for the race at the Casa de Campo, but the good vibrations felt on previous days turned into one bad trip from the moment his feet touched the pedals, leaving the MULTIVAN MERIDA rider to finish thirteenth, 2:31 from the winner, France’s Julien Absalon.   The race turned out to be a typical Casa de Campo event, a multitude of riders locked together, waiting until one decides to break free. Incomprehensibly it was Hermida’s co-rider, Ralf Naef who took the initiative, taking Absalon with him. Behind them remained Hermida, leading the pack, but unable to chase the dynamic duo up front, due to the intense rhythm of his team rider.   What everyone saw coming came to pass, as Naef facilitated Absalon’s attack, threw off of the Swiss rider when he saw fit and effortlessly dominated the race. Four groups formed behind him, but this time Hermida couldn’t win back ground, and those bad vibrations left him coming in at unlucky thirteen. At the end of the race Hermida left us with these comments: “Happy? Not at all. I don’t have any excuses, quite simply my legs weren’t working and when I wanted to press on I couldn’t. Overall it was a bad race, as I wasn’t happy at any time. I was surprised at how many people there were and this is good for mountain biking and so that people realise that we can also fill up circuits here in Spain. I don’t have to keep thinking about what happened, I’m okay, it was just a bad race.”   NEXT RACE: 14.06.09. ALBSTADT. BUNDESLIGA MTB