Clasica de Almeria 2023 [FULL RACE]

February 12, 2023

Clasica de Almeria 2023 – Puebla de Vícar – Roquetas de Mar : 190,3 km

Clásica de Almería is a one-day race that traditionally takes place in mid February. As its name suggests, this one-day race takes place in Almería, a city located on the southern coast of Spain and within its second-largest autonomous community, Andalusia. Racing in the south of Spain at this time of the year is an opportunity welcomed by many riders who want to enjoy a bit of sunshine before they head to Northern Europe to compete in the often gritty and grim Spring Classics. The race has followed a similar route for the last few years, starting and finishing in the seaside resort of Roquetas de Mar. This small town just outside of Almería has witnessed a number of hectic bunch finishes in the past few years, many of which have been won by some of the biggest names in the world of sprinting

Matteo Moschetti delivered the new Q36.5 team its first success, taking a surprise sprint victory in the Clasica de Almeria in Spain.

The Italian who showed so much promise in his WorldTour debut with Trek-Segafredo but struggled with crashes and major injuries showed he is back to his full potential, out-sprinting Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe), the fast-man of the moment, Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) and 2022 winner Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X).

De Lie bounced off Max Walscheid (Cofidis) in the final 50 metres and lost his chance at a fourth win of the season after losing his leadout train faded in the final three kilometres.

“I think we worked really well as a team, we took the race in our hands and that was the plan. I can’t fault the team. In a sprint everything is about details and I think as a team we did a fantastic job. We organized well, there was just a little mistake in the end,” De Lie said.

Meeus, who spent the entire Vuelta a Murcia in the breakaway and finished third in the uphill sprint, said he felt the efforts of Saturday’s cold and rainy race when it mattered most.

“It was a super hectic final with all the roundabouts and the headwind and then a full cross-tailwind finish. My teammates did an amazing job to put me in a good position, unfortunately I didn’t have the legs to finish it off. At the moment I had to make the kick, it wasn’t there anymore.”

A stiff headwind knocked out much of the race 190km Spanish race, with only a short-lived breakaway and an unsuccessful attempt to split the bunch in a crosswind the highlights before the frantic dash for the line.

Luis Angel Mate (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Eugenio Sanchez (Kern Pharma) Sander De Pestel (Flanders Baloise) attacked from kilometre zero and the peloton seemed rather unconcerned, letting the trio gain almost seven minutes on them before the first difficulty, the Alto de Celín – a 7km ascent averaging 5.2%.

The gap fell steadily on the mid-race loop from Beria to Adra but when the leaders hit the coast for the eastward 80 kilometre run to Roquetas de Mar, the block headwind hurt the three riders out front much more than the peloton. Their time out front came to an end with 67km to go.

A crash a few kilometres later took down Cole Davis (Q36.5) and Gleb Brussenskiy (Astana Qazaqstan) but the next 40 kilometres were largely uneventful.

Burgos-BH upped the pace in the peloton through a roundabout with 21km to go and with a small rise and change of direction into a cross-headwind, Bora-Hansgrohe surged to split the peloton.

They caught out Intermarché-Circus-Wanty but Uno-X were quick to respond in the second group and bring back Alexander Kristoff, but were unsuccessful in distancing the main sprint threat De Lie.

It all came back together for the finish but then De Lie’s train fell apart amid the shuffle for position. It looked as if Uno-X had things under control for Kristoff but the Norwegian hit out too early and Moschetti came around the long way at speed to snatch the first win for his new team.

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