Hermida has offered today an spectacular race in the Belgian course of Houffalize. In a very tough course, with wet conditions that demanded a great technique, Hermida has taken a new victory in Houffalize, in “The Cathedral”, with a brand new track design, but with the same magic as always.

Hermida has gone through a setback in the start: “Kulhavy has crashed in front of me before even starting pedalling. A few riders and I have been blocked by this, while the left part of the starting grid were pedalling full gas”. Jose has completed the first lap more than a minute behind the leaders and out of the top ten. From there, he has been passing riders all the race long. “I was feeling really strong and I have used my experience to dosify my energies. I knew I was riding really fast and that I was going to be up in front”, explains the rider from Puigcerdà.

When Jose was starting the last lap, he has been told that “I was 30 seconds behind the leader. I was so focused on pushing that I have had to ask who was in front. When I have been told it was Fumic who was leading, I have seen it was possible to win. He is a great rider, but he usually slows down a little bit in the last laps”.

And this is how Jose has ridden the last kilometers, catching and suffocating the German rider with his pace, and heading to his second victory in “The Cathedral”. “I have caught him and he has stayed with me in the flat section. When we have got to the next climb, I have pushed again and he has lost contact”, says Jose.

Apart from his speed, Jose has used his experience when choosing tires for today’s race; ”one of these days, I am going to pay these imprudences (laughs). I have decided to use dry tires while the rest of the riders were using mud tires. If it kept on raining, mud would have been quite liquid and a dry tire works as well as a mud tire. If it kept on drying at the same speed the course was drying, dry tires were the best choice. And this is what happened”, ends a happy and smily Hermida.

With this result, Jose gets his first World Cup of the season and gets the World Cup leader jersey. “It has been the perfect race, the one everybody dreams of. The leadership, after being ninth in the first round, is a great surprise for the team. We are excited about getting to Offenburg, in the home of one of our top sponsors, Volkswagen, with the leader jersey. We will give it all to defend it”.