Clásica de Almería / Tour de La Provence (finale)
Briton in the mix at final sprint in Roquetas after late crash from Cortina -without consequence- and good support from Gabz's team-mates; Lluís caught 2km from Salon's finish, climbs onto final podium in France as Most Aggressive Rider.
The men’s Movistar Team had on Sunday its first double-duty appointment of the 2021 season, with the final stage of the Tour de La Provence and, most importantly, its first race in Spain with the 36th Clásica de Almería, held on a well-known, sprinter-suited course over 183km from Puebla de Vícar to an urban, final circuit in Roquetas de Mar.
It was an eventful race in Spain, most notably at the hilly, central section, with BikeExchange setting a hard pace, and the final circuit, with many crashes which included a tumble, with no injuries, for Iván García Cortina. The Spaniard, who tried to bridge back to the front group, was eventually unable to contest the sprint after his incident with less than 20km to go.
With Cortina out of contention, it was up to Briton Gabriel Cullaigh to get in the mix and snatch a nice 7th position at a difficult sprint, won by Giacomo Nizzolo (TQA). The West Yorkshire native had some good support from his team-mates near the end, especially Gonzalo Serrano, who made a huge effort to lead ‘Gabz’ out into the final turns. A top-ten result which gives Cullaigh morale after a 2020 season overshadowed by health issues for him.
Tour de La Provence: Lluís Mas on the attack – as usual
Over on French soil, Lluís Mas (Movistar Team) got himself into a much-fought break on stage four, ultimately won by Phil Bauhaus (TBV) as Iván Sosa (IGD) sealed his overall success. The Spaniard spent a long portion of the Sunday showdown -over a rolling route, with no major climbs, from Avignon to Salon-de-Provence (163 km)-, together with Leknessund (DSM), Gallopin (ALM) and Leveau (XRM), and was caught with only 2km from the finish after a brief solo attempt from that leading group with twenty kilometers to go.
“I had some good legs all over the stage and especially near the finish, where I tried to take those extra seconds into one of the descents to see if it could stick,” explained Mas after the race. “We tried to make things hard for the bunch, and when we held that 20″ gap with 5km to go and we were back together and cooperating well, it seemed like we had a chance, but we knew it was always going to be hard.” Matteo Jorgenson, the Teléfonica-backed squad’s biggest factor of the week alongside Abner González, finished in 14th overall after taking 16th place today.
Cover picture (c): Photo Gomez Sport