Philippe Gilbert took out the small bunch sprint to win the Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia, after getting a high-speed lead-out from teammate Ben Hermans in the finale. Gilbert topped Movistar's Alejandro Valverde by a clean set of wheels, with Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) pipping Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) for the final podium spot.
"Today was just a great day. I won but it was really a win for the whole team," Gilbert said. "We really raced perfectly together. I've done a lot of races but I've never really seen anything like this in my life. There were 20 guys left at the top of the climb with 20 kilometers to go and I was suffering, but I was still there with the guys. To have all seven of us out of 20 guys was really amazing to see."
Gilbert had Tejay van Garderen, Ben Hermans, Samuel Sanchez, Darwin Atapuma, Brent Bookwalter and Damiano Caruso in the group with him, but they also faced a strong Movistar and Astana presence. Underterred, they took the initiative to keep the group away.
"We rode full gas to the last climb and kept a high tempo, almost at max speed," Gilbert said. "Tejay attacked two kilometers from the top at which point we were only six or seven guys left. We caught him with two kilometers to go and then I took my chance in the sprint. So there was no way we were going to lose the race, either with Tejay winning solo or me in the sprint. I want to thank all of my teammates because we really raced together and it was so nice."
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The Vuelta a Murcia kicked off from San Javier with 129 riders facing the 199.3km course, with the main difficulty, the category 1 Alto Collado Bermejo coming with 80km to go. Early on, Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise rider Sander Helven sparked the day-long breakaway that also included Miguel Angel Benito (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Artem Ovechkin (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Kleber Ramos (Funvic Soul Cycles - Carrefour), Benat Txoperena Matxikote (Euskadi Basque Country), and Kamil Gradek (Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team).
The six riders worked together to build up a lead of nearly eight minutes on the peloton, but after racing 107km, the category 3 Alto de Aledo the peloton had reduced the gap to a more manageable 2:55. The Bermejo wiped out the gap, and under pressure from Movistar the peloton shattered, leaving a group of about 20 riders in the front of the race.
Among them was BMC's Tejay van Garderen, who attacked on the final climb, the category 3 Cresta del Gallo, with 13km to go and gained a 10 second lead. His attack didn't last, but it set up BMC with three riders in a group of nine, giving Gilbert the tactical advantage.
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