With the aim to set a perfect closing to a great February -with victories by Rojas, in Mallorca, and Ventoso, in Andalusia-, Movistar Team will be heading on Sunday to the start of the 26th Clásica de Almería, a UCI 1.1 race whose 178km route covers most of the interior in the province offering terrain suited for success of breakaways, but also for a bunch sprint.

The squad directed this time by José Luis ArrIeta will be bringing a roster balanced for both options, with the appearance by Fran Ventoso, still suffering pain after his brutal crash last Wednesday in Córdoba’s sprint, but confident on his fitness level showed with the stage triumph in the Vuelta a Andalucía. Alongside him, José Joaquín Rojas, the other killer from Movistar Team in the beginning of the season, and the support by six top-level riders: Ignatas Konovalovas, Xavi Tondo, Imanol Erviti, Carlos Oyarzun, Fran Pérez -replacing Mauricio Soler in a last-minute entry, the Colombian suffering from pain in his knee- and Vasil Kiryienka. With no really big climbs across the route, complications will be marked by continuous ups-and-downs into the center part of the race -with the ascents to El Campico (Cat. 2), Los Castaños (Cat. 3) and Turrillas (Cat. 3), along with the non-categorized Collado Lubrín- and technical descents before the descending 50km finale before the sprint in the coastal Federico García Lorca avenue.