Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff) claimed the sprint victory on the opening stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia-Ruta Ciclista del Sol, thanks to perfect positioning in a critical roundabout just ahead of the line.
The Italian made the sprint look easy, jumping around Bert Van Lerberghe (Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise), who initiated the sprint with roughly 300 metres to go, to take the stage win and the first leader’s jersey. Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) finished third.
It was Bennati's first win for Tinkoff, and only his second victory in the last four seasons. His most recent came while racing with the Italian National Team in the GP Industria & Commercio di Prato last September.
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The Ruta del Sol opened with a challenging 165.2km race from Almonaster La Real to Sevilla. The peloton faced climbs over Alto de Jabugo (14km), Puerto de los Pinos (32km) and Alto Castalio del Robledo (52km). Although the course remained lumpy after the succession of three climbs, it was predominantly downhill during the last half and ended with a flat and fast final 30km.
Four riders escaped from the main field; Imanol Estevez (Euskadi Basque Country - Murias), Marcin Mrozek (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Jérôme Baugnies (Wanty - Groupe Gobert) and Evgeny Shalunov (Gazprom-RusVelo).
They held onto a slim 1:30 gap on the bunch during the closing 20km, but the flat run-in to the finish line in Sevilla made for a perfect bunch sprint scenario that the teams with strong sprinters; Trek-Segafredo’s Fabio Felline, Movistar’s Lobato, Tinkoff’s Jay McCarthy and Bennati, and Team Sky’s Ben Swift, among others, weren’t willing to give up.
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