Ineos Grenadiers rider takes first pro victory on twisting uphill finish
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Ben Turner won the Vuelta a Murcia(Image credit: Getty Images)
The lemon trees of the Vuelta Ciclista Murcia(Image credit: Getty Images)
It rained hard at the 2023 Vuelta Ciclista Murcia(Image credit: Getty Images)
The Vuelta Ciclista Murcia climbed into the hills(Image credit: Getty Images)
The rain in Spain fell mainly on the Vuelta Ciclista Murcia(Image credit: Getty Images)
Harry Sweeny on the attack at the Vuelta a Murcia(Image credit: Getty Images)
Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) took the first victory of his young professional career on the twisting uphill sprint to the line of the Vuelta a Murcia in Cartagena, out-sprinting Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) with a late surge.
Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) played off the vicious pace of new teammate Tim Wellens on the final climb but jumped too early, following Clarke. Turner latched onto their surge and powered out of the final bend to victory. A disappointed Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished third.
"I don’t know what to say,” Turner said, slightly emotional about his first professional victory.
“This is the biggest win of my career because it’s the only one. Hopefully not the last and it’s good to start with a win in February. Now let's see what the rest of the season brings.
Turner is a former cyclocross racer and enjoyed the wet and cold conditions.
“It split at the beginning and there was a group away with me and Luke Rowe there. I didn’t expect to be at the front. It was ‘on’ from the start and nice ‘British’ weather, so I think that helped,” he said.
“We then settled in and the boys did a fantastic job for me. I wouldn’t have been anywhere near the win without them today.
“We did the recon yesterday and I didn’t want to get boxed in; I knew I had to go early and then manage to come off the right wheel and I still had the legs. I didn’t have race radio and so I didn’t know if there was still someone away. I heard there was and then there wasn’t, so no celebration.”
The route of the Spanish 1.1-ranked race was decapitated because of overnight snow, with the mid-stage hors-categorie climb of the Alto Collado Bermejo removed from the route.
Although the ascent was replaced by the category 3 Cola del Caballo, without the 11-kilometre climb, the advantage swung to the sprinters and Classics riders. Even without the climb, the race was 183.5 kilometres.
Riders saw some sunshine but started on wet roads with dark clouds looming in the distance. The attacks flew from the drop of the flag, with Enekoitz Azparren (Euskaltel-Euskadi) the first to jump and pull away a group of around 20 riders.
Among the first group were Domen Novak and Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), Vinicius Rangel (Movistar), Marco Haller, Jonas Koch, Jordi Meeus, Nils Politt and Frederik Wandahl (Bora-Hansgrohe), Lewis Askey and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Jelle Vermoote and Loic Vliegen (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), Luke Rowe and Ben Turner (Ineos), Mads Würtz Schmidt (Israel-Premier Tech), Liam Slock, Andreas Kron and Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny), Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Eugenio Sanchez (Kern Pharma) and Mika Heming (Tudor).
Fernandez claimed the first KOM at the Alto Cresta de Callo and Rowe won the intermediate sprint in Murcia but after 50 kilometres and a gap of more than a minute, the peloton brought them back.
After the catch, another group went clear, this time of a more reasonable size. Iván Romeo (Movistar) and Harry Sweeny (Lotto-Dstny) sparked the attack and were joined by Paul Ourselin (TotalEnergies), Jose María García Soriano and Mateu Estelrich (Electro Hiper Europa).
Estelrich led the quintet over the Alto Cola de Caballo and teammate Garcia led over the next intermediate sprint. The breakaway gained over three minutes but, after losing the Electro Hiper Europa duo, the gap began to fall rapidly in the headwind. Ourselin let go on the Alto el Cedacero, a steep category 3 climb with 19 km to go.
Soon, Sweeny left Romero behind but they were in sight of the chasing peloton. Romero went back to be caught but Sweeny persisted, finally getting reeled in with 13.2km to go.
The run-in to the finish was packed with twisting roads and road furniture, with riders fighting for position at the front. Turner made sure he was perfectly-placed and a final kick to the line gave him victory.
Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
