the slovenian Tadej Pogacarof UAE Team Emirateswas proclaimed this Sunday the champion of the 69th edition of Cycling Tour of Andalusia-Ruta del Solwhere they won three of the five stages held in six of the eight Andalusian provinces hosting the race.
The latter was awarded to the Spanish Omar Fraile (Ineos Grenadiers)who won the fifth stage held in between Otura (Grenada) and Alhaurin de la Torre (Malaga)with a 184 kilometer route and a time of 4 hours, 27 minutes and 56 seconds.
🚨 LAST MINUTE
There are times when the @TeamEmiratesUAE don’t win We began to doubt.
🇪🇸 SENSATIONAL Omar Fraile to be crowned in Alhaurín de la Torre in the final stage of @VCANDALUCIA pic.twitter.com/uib4l7fTbs
– Teledeporte (@teledeporte) February 19, 2023
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Pogacar has been leading the general classification since he won on the opening day in Santiago de la Espada (Jaén).
Pogacar, number one in the world at the age of 24 and double winner of the Tour in 2020 and 2021, chose Andalusia to start a season in which his main goal is to win the French round again after his latest success, but never done. he came to think or accumulate kilometers, on the contrary, because he was not satisfied with four partial victories -including the Clásica in the capital of Jaén- and the general victory of the Andalusian Vuelta.
The Slovenian first won the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior, contested between Úbeda and Baeza, and then he was the “king” of the Tour of Andalusia by winning three stages: Santiago de la Espada, Alcalá la Real (Jaén ) and Iznájar (Córdoba) ., in addition to dominating the general.
Pogacar was generous on the last day and in the last kilometer he led the group to launch his Italian teammate Alessandro Covi with the aim of making it full of race victories, after Friday in Alcalá de los Gazules (Cádiz ) beat Belgian Tim Wellens, also from the UAE Emirates.
However, Omar Fraile from Santurce from Biscay was behind the wheel of the Italian, holding on and passing him in the final stage to prevent the UAE Team Emirates from winning all stages of this sixty-ninth edition of the Andalusian round.
Seven riders were the stars of the final stage of the Ruta del Sol with an attack on 12 kilometers of the longest day of this year: the Italian Kevin Colleoni (Jayco Jaula), the Belgians Dries de Bondt (Alpecin), Dries Van Gestel (TotalEnergies ) and Vicent Hemelen (Team Flanders), the Hungarian Erik Fetter (Eolo Cometa), the Dutch Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto) and the Spanish Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel).
The breakaways mixed up completely and, with the peloton permitting, they began to accumulate an advantage until they reached a maximum of 3 minutes and 50 seconds in a hundred kilometers to go from the finish line in Alhaurín de la Torre.
From there, the difference began to decrease, although this fact prevented us from crowning the mountain peaks of Cerrajón (Pascal Eenkhoorn) and Navazo (Dries de Bondt).
The first-category Puerto del Sol was the last mountainous difficulty of the stage and race, and it was there that Belgian De Bondt attacked as he was only 40 seconds behind the leader group in the breakaway.
The Alpecin cyclist was brave, but his lead barely reached 20 seconds and he was neutralized with 9 kilometers to go, despite the fact that he fought a peloton that was slowly chasing him.
The UAE Team Emirates controlled the peloton and even Tadej Pogacar, with his victory in the general already decided, took control in the last kilometer and launched Alessandro Covi, but Omar Fraile noticed the maneuver, got on the wheel of the Italian and achieved an important victory in the final stage.
On the final podium, Pogacar was joined by Spaniard Mikel Landa, second overall, and Colombian Santiago Buitrago, third, both from Team Bharain, while Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos) from Granada was fourth in third consecutive year and Enric fifth. Mas (Movistar), who would have been higher had it not been for a minute lost due to a mechanical failure in the first stage.
Source: La Verdad
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