Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) rode solo 12km to the finish to win the 2025 Clásica Jaén(Image credit: Getty Images)
Riders on the attack early in the race(Image credit: Getty Images)
The peloton winds through the Spanish countryside(Image credit: Getty Images)
The riders early in the 169km one-day race(Image credit: Getty Images)
Riders kick up dust as they tackle one of the race's challenging gravel sectors(Image credit: Getty Images)
Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) leads a chase group of riders(Image credit: Getty Images)
Kwiatkowski leading from the front over a gravel sector(Image credit: Getty Images)
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike) heads up a select group over the gravel(Image credit: Getty Images)
Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)(Image credit: Getty Images)
Kwiatkowski went solo 12km from the finish(Image credit: Getty Images)
Kwiatkowski on the road to glory(Image credit: Getty Images)
Issac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) trailed home in second place(Image credit: Getty Images)
Ibon Ruiz scored a big podium spot for ProTeam Kern Pharma(Image credit: Getty Images)
JKwiatkowski, Del Toro, and Ruiz on the final podium(Image credit: Getty Images)
Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) secured his first win of the season after a solo breakaway at the gravel-heavy Clásica Jaén.
The Polish rider was part of an initial breakaway but made his winning move through the deep gravel sector inside the final 12km and crossed the line 26 seconds ahead of his nearest rival in Úbeda.
Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who initially formed part of a larger chase group behind Kwiatkowski, bridged across to a struggling Ibon Ruiz (Equipo Kern Pharma) with 4km remaining and then distanced the Spaniard to take second place on the day, 31 seconds down.
Ruiz had been in the breakaway for most of the race, and despite a hard-fought performance, was forced to settle for third place at 42 seconds behind the day's winner.
"I always have to believe that winning is possible. The pace was pretty hard from the second sector and I didn't expect that, but it was just a small group and we had a lot of support from my team, everyone was racing perfectly and we knew it well," Kwiatkowski said after his win.
"I was going with the move with [Brandon] McNulty and get to the finish, so I'm proud of how we rode today. I want to dedicate this win to my family. It was a tough couple of months, so it is all for them."
"[The win] means a lot. Last year, with my lower back injury, I didn't race a lot and tried to get back. I started racing in Australia in January and had pretty good condition, but I was always missing something to get the victory.
"I spent the last two weeks training in Mallorca. My family stayed at home. I know how much sacrifice it is for my family, so it means a lot to me to win the race. If it was not me today, I think it would have been another from my team because we rode great today."
Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was initially part of the breakaway with Kwiatkowski and Ruiz but suffered an untimely puncture under 15km to go over the gravel sector and was forced off his bike to receive neutral wheel support.
He lost valuable time and was reabsorbed into the chase group as Kwiatkowski and Ruiz forged ahead in pursuit of the day's win.
With a strategic shift, UAE Team Emirates-XRG moved its riders to the front of the main 10-rider chase group with Del Torro and Igor Arrieta setting the pace as McNulty drifted to the back of the group to recover from his efforts.
Up front in the breakaway, Kwiatkowski attacked with 12km to go and quickly opened up a gap on Ruiz.
The group behind them split apart at the same time as Del Toro attacked in his own attempt to bridge to the leaders on the road.
Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers), Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike), Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Eric Antonio Fagúndez (Burgos Burpellet BH), followed by Arrieta tried to respond but ended up forming the main chase group.
McNulty struggled to stay with the surges and was distanced.
A warm dry day greeted the 108-strong peloton for the fourth edition of the Clásica Jaén, featuring 33.1km of off-road, almost double last year's total when the organisers were forced to reduce the gravel segments drastically because of heavy rainfall. The 2,540 metres of vertical climbing was, however, more or less the same as in 2024.
With the gravel segments all concentrated in the second part of the race, the main contenders opted to let a break of non-favourites gain a significant margin early on.
As the course wended its way through the olive groves of eastern Andalucia, seven riders went clear: Clément Alleno (Burgos Burpellet BH), Julen Arriolabengoa (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Yentl Vandevelde (Flanders-Baloise), Edgar Curto and Ricard Fitó (Illes Balears-Arabay), Adrián Benito (Selección Española U23) and Ibon Ruiz (Equipo Kern Pharma).
By the second hour of racing, the seven had picked up a maximum advantage of five minutes, but when they hit the first, isolated segment of gravel, Visma and Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale had already reduced that advantage to under four and it began to drop even more rapidly.
As the break splintered under the fast-rising pressure from behind, a dramatic acceleration by Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) and Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) some 50 kilometres from the line seemingly caught Wout van Aert by surprise, forcing Visma's Sepp Kuss and Ben Tulett to chase.
The Pole and American quickly caught Alleno from the break and bore down on Arriola-Bengoa and Ruiz, the last two leaders from the early move. Meanwhile, the bunch squeezed down to just 20 riders and Visma - by now down to just Van Aert, Tulett and Kuss - chased hard behind.
However, a fall for Tulett as he continued to chase on a right-hand bend made it harder to reduce a gap of a minute on the five leaders: Kwiatkowski, McNulty, Alleno, Arriola-Bengoa and Ruiz. Kuss then tried to bridge across, further suggesting that Van Aert was not in great shape, and was happy to follow wheels even as other dangerous riders like Bernal, Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) and Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) shadowed the American.
Alleno was dropped from the break just as the five leaders reached the longest sector of sterrato, the 6.2 kilometre Guadalupe section and the 20-strong chase group reformed.
UAE and Ineos not only had a man ahead with McNulty and Kwiatkowski but also had the most in the chasing group with four apiece, whilst Visma continued to find themselves at a numerical disadvantage, having only Kuss and Turner to back the top favourite Van Aert. Arriola, riding a great race for Caja Rural, was unlucky enough to puncture, reducing the break to three, while a searing acceleration by Tulett changed the narrative behind yet again, only for Bernal and Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to briefly test the waters.
When Van Aert then took charge of the 14 riders chasing the trio of breakaways, driving hard as the race headed towards the finish for the first time, it looked as if the top pre-race favourite had opted to take on a domestique's role.
Additional support from Decathlon-AG2R Jordan Labrosse added much-needed strength to the pursuit, but the small army of UAE riders flanking Van Aert as they reached Ubeda with 34 kilometres to go could hardly have been encouraging for the Belgian.
Van Aert then sat up as they headed out of the city on a neverending series of minor climbs, sparking a series of attempts to bring across to the tenacious trio of leaders. Wellens, Labrosse and Bernal came the closest, but each attack was cancelled out and still Kwiatkowski, McNulty and Ruiz remained with a 30-second advantage as they hit the last 20 kilometres.
Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
