Caleb Ewan sprints to Vuelta a Castilla y Leon victory

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Caleb Ewan (Team Jayco AlUla) won the bunch sprint to claim the victory at the one-day Vuelta a Castilla y Leon. The Australian out-kicked runner-up Davide Cimolai (Movistar) and third-placed Jenthe Biermans (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) in La Cistérniga.

“On paper, it was a pretty easy looking day but it’s harder when you factor in the heat. At some points, when I looked at my Garmin it was 43 and 44 degrees so it was super hot today. The uphill in sprint made it harder, too, but I think it suited me really well and my team did a great job today. We really controlled the race from the start and then I´m happy I could finish it off," Ewan said.

"I knew UAE would try something on the last climb because they don't have a sprinter here. I expected it to be aggressive but my team did a great job to keep the attacks under control and make it a sprint. The Vuelta a España was one of my first big victories as a pro so it´s also a pleasure to come back and race in Spain.”

The peloton raced nearly 200km from Valladolid to La Cistérniga on a challenging route that included five category 3 climbs.

Six riders emerged in an early breakaway that included Carlos García Pierna (Equipo Kern Pharma), José Mendes (Victoria Sports Pro Cycling), Unai Cuadrado and Nicolás Alustiza (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Clément Alleno (Burgos-BH), and Edgar Curto (Illes Balears Arabay).

The breakaway gained a small advantage over the chasing field led by Jayco AlUla and Astana Qazaqsran that flourished out to over three minutes in the first third of the race.

Mendes was distanced from the break as they raced over the third claim of the day, Alto de Portillo, and Curto lost contact over the last ascent, Also de Olivares. 

The gap dropped to under two minutes as the breakaway hit a headwind on the roads to the finish line with 35km still to go, and ten kilometres later, the gap was slashed to just 30 seconds.

With the field all together into the final, Jayco AlUla and Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team were the dominant lead-outs with Ewan taking the victory.

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