Marc Hirschi (Tudor Pro Cycling) sprinted away from Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) in the final 200 metres to win the Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana 1969 - Gran Premi València, the second race of the 2025 men's European racing season.
António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates) moved ahead of Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) in the chase of the two attackers to secure the final spot on the podium, with Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates) taking fifth.
It was Hirschi's debut in the black and red for Tudor Pro Cycling and he impressed on the Spanish roads where he has recently trained with is new teammates.
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The peloton raced 184km from Valencia to La Nucía. On the flat procession of the opening 50km to the start of climbing, Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto), Martin Pedersen (Lidl-Trek Future Racing) and Xavier Cañellas (Sabgal-Anicolor) pushed their advantage to just over three minutes.
Across the next 40km the trio marched on, crossing the category 3 Alto de Barx with the gap slipping to 2:20. Riders from Bahrain-Victorious and Tudor Pro Cycling took some turns at the front of the peloton, the pack biding time for the mountains ahead - the category 2 Alto de Coll de Rates, 6.7km averaging 5.2% gradient, and the category 3 Alto de Turrón Duro, 3.5km at 9%, in the final 44km.
The Coll de Rates, used by teams for training and testing during camps, proved to be the snare for the trio, with Pedersen caught by the peloton at the base of the climb and his companions apprehended one kilometre later. Bahrain Victorious put the pressure on right away.
After a 15km descent and 11km to the final ascent, a small group of riders pushed ahead and opened a 20-second gap.
Attacks began from the move on a small descent leading to the Alto de Turrón Duro, with 15km to go. Buitrago was the most active but Hirschi, Christen and Scaroni chased him on the narrow, rough road of the climb.
Buitrago faded from the lead group on the descent, where the tarmac improved on the road into La Nucía.
The trio sailed away, no peloton in their rear view mirrors, but Buitrago clawing his way back and was joined by Morgado.
Scaroni attacked and Hirschi chased him down, dropping Christen to set up a head-to-head sprint on the final kilometre.
They played games inside the final kilometre but Hirschi soon showed he was the strongest.
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