Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior 2022 [FULL RACE]

February 14, 2022

Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior 2022 – Baeza – Úbeda : 187,8 km

The Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior is a brand-new race for 2022 and will become the only professional race in Spain to feature both asphalt and gravel. With 3,500m of climbing and a whopping 40km spent on gravel roads, the obvious comparisons to Strade Bianche have been made. One thing is for sure, with a gravel climb located near to the finish, the one-day race is set to debut with a bang this year! Organised by the Spanish National Cycling Coach Pascual Momparler, the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior will take place in the Spanish region of Jaén, which is famous for its fields upon fields of olive trees – amounting to 1.5 million hectares. Beginning in Baeza and concluding in the historic town of Úbeda, the race will cross the Cazorla National Park, which serves as Spain’s largest national park and is certain to provide a stunning backdrop to proceedings.

Alexey Lutsenko used his power and aggression to dominate the inaugural edition of the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior race, the new Spanish one-day race that included 40km of gravel country roads through the olive groves of Andalucia.

Lutsenko forced a split in the peloton with 50km to go on the third of seven long gravel sectors. He then attacked again with 28km to go, distancing a small group of riders and leaving them to fight for the placings.

The Astana Qazaqstan rider opened a gap of a minute and never looked back, powering over the dirt roads and on the cobbled streets to the finish line.

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) finished 53 seconds behind Lutsenko, with

Loïc Vliegen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) taking third three seconds further back. Former British national champion Connor Swift (Arkea-Samsic) finished fourth at 1:28.

Lutsenko made his season debut at the Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior race but will continue racing at this week’s Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol. He was awarded a huge golden olive trophy for winning the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior race. It was his 30th career victory.

“I’m really happy to start my season here with a win. It’s good for my morale and for my team. It’s a hard race but a lovely race,” Lutsenko said on the podium.

How it unfolded
The 187.8km race was always going to be a hard and selective one, with three sectors of gravel and some steep climbs in the opening 65km, followed by a valley road and then a long gravel climb up to Ubeda and a 20km loop that was covered four times.

Diego Alba (Drone Hopper–Androni), the USA’s Chad Haga (Human Powered Health), Jenno Berckmoes (Sport Vlaanderen–Baloise), Igor Arrieta, Raul Garcia (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Mikel Azparren (Euskaltel-Euskadi) formed the early break over the first section of gravel, as a crash saw several of Lutsenko’s Astana Qazaqstan go down.

The break opened a gap of 2:00 but the Lotto Soudal team kept them under control on the valley road and reduced their lead to a minute as the finishing circuit began.

Arrieta tried to fight on alone but was soon caught and passed as the race exploded on the long, gravel climbs.

Luis Angel Mate (Euskaltel-Euskadi) kicked things off but then Wellens, Lennard Kamna and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) made a move. Lutsenko decided it was time to go on the attack and blew the race apart with 50km to go.

Back on asphalt roads, Vliegen, Wellens, Kamna, Swift and Thibaut Ferasse (B&B Hotels–KTM) formed a chase group and Lutsenko wisely eased up. However when the Bayyasa gravel section up to the finish began again, the Kazakhstani rider powered away again, sure of his superiority.

He soon carved out a lead of a minute, ensuring the support from his Astana Qazaqstan team car and never looked back. He struggled on the steep ramp up to Ubeda but was in total control as the chasers began to think about the race for the podium placings.

Wellens and Vliegen emerged the best of the rest on the climb to the finish with Wellens edging ahead to take second place. The rest of the field came home individually or in small groups, tired from the hard racing but fascinated by the latest race to include gravel roads, this time through the olives groves of southern Spain.

Results :
1 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team 4:49:12
2 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:53
3 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:57
4 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:16
5 Connor Swift (GBr) Arkea-Samsic 0:01:28
6 Jai Hindley (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:54
7 Warren Barguil (Fra) Arkea-Samsic
8 Steff Cras (Bel) Lotto Soudal
9 Andreas Kron (Den) Lotto Soudal
10 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM
11 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Arkea-Samsic 0:01:59
12 Kobe Goossens (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:02:11
13 Jonathan Lastra Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
14 Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost
15 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
16 Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:14
17 Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Astana Qazaqstan Team 0:02:33
18 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
19 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
20 Marco Tizza (Ita) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB 0:02:57
21 Roger Adria Oliveras (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:03:23
22 Matis Louvel (Fra) Arkea-Samsic 0:04:34
23 Igor Arrieta Lizarraga (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:05:21
24 Joel Nicolau Beltran (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:06:38
25 Michal Schlegel (Cze) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
26 Thibault Ferasse (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM 0:07:08
27 Remy Mertz (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB
28 Kenny Molly (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB 0:07:10
29 Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Burgos-BH
30 Arjen Livyns (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB 0:07:17
31 Raul Garcia Pierna (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:07:29
32 Gotzon Martin Sanz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:07:35
33 Alan Riou (Fra) Arkea-Samsic
34 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM
35 Jon Agirre Egaña (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:07:48
36 Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team 0:08:07
37 Sylvain Moniquet (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:08:26
38 Stephen Bassett (USA) Human Powered Health 0:09:00
39 Fernando Barceló Aragon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:09:16
40 Johan Jacobs (Swi) Movistar Team 0:09:18
41 Mikel Iturria Segurola (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:09:28
42 Georg Steinhauser (Ger) EF Education-EasyPost 0:09:50
43 Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Arkea-Samsic 0:09:56
44 Axel Laurance (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM 0:10:00
45 Tuur Dens (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
46 Nurbergen Nurlykhassym (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
47 Vicente Hernaiz Santamaria (Spa) Manuela Fundacion
48 Daniel Jimenez Martinez (Spa) Manuela Fundacion
49 Markus Pajur (Est) Arkea-Samsic
50 Jenno Berckmoes (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
51 Gilles De Wilde (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
52 Isaac Canton Serrano (Spa) Manuela Fundacion
53 Vito Braet (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
54 Santiago Mesa Pietralunga (Col) Manuela Fundacion
55 Milan Fretin (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
56 Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
57 Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Pol) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB
58 Dimitri Peyskens (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB
59 Michiel Lambrecht (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB Development Team
60 Giovanni Aleotti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
61 Cesare Benedetti (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
62 Ruben Apers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
63 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost
64 Yevgeniy Fedorov (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
65 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan Team
66 Yuriy Natarov (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
67 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
68 Ben Healy (Irl) EF Education-EasyPost
69 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Education-EasyPost
70 Eduardo Perez-Landaluce Gonzalez (Spa) Manuela Fundacion
71 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Education-EasyPost
72 Sergio Roman Martin Galan (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
73 Oscar Pelegri Ferrandis (Spa) Burgos-BH
74 Ander Okamika Bengoetxea (Spa) Burgos-BH
75 Jesus Ezquerra Muela (Spa) Burgos-BH
76 Adria Moreno Sala (Spa) Burgos-BH
77 Juan Antonio Lopez-Cozar Jaimez (Spa) Burgos-BH
78 Joan Marti Bennassar Rossello (Spa) Manuela Fundacion
79 Raul Rota Rus (Spa) Manuela Fundacion
80 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) EF Education-EasyPost
81 Ricardo Alejandro Zurita Garcia (Spa) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
82 Vinicius Rangel Costa (Bra) Movistar Team
83 Adrien Lagree (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM
84 Jhonatan Restrepo Valencia (Col) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
85 Daniel Muñoz Giraldo (Col) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
86 Juan Diego Alba Bolivar (Col) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
87 Didier Norberto Merchan Cardona (Col) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
88 Aritz Bagües Kalparsoro (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
89 Andrii Ponomar (Ukr) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
90 Abner González Rivera (PuR) Movistar Team
91 Nathan Brown (USA) Human Powered Health
92 Chad Haga (USA) Human Powered Health
93 Ben King (USA) Human Powered Health
94 Gavin Mannion (USA) Human Powered Health
95 Unai Iribar Jauregi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
96 Xabier Mikel Azparren Irurzun (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
97 Unai Cuadrado Ruiz De Gauna (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
98 Brandon Alejandro Rojas Vega (Col) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
99 Barnabás Peák (Hun) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
100 Txomin Juaristi Arrieta (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
101 Alejandro Ropero Molina (Spa) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
102 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
103 Mirco Maestri (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
104 Daniel Viegas (Por) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
105 Diego Pablo Sevilla Lopez (Spa) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
106 Mark Christian (GBr) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
107 Max Kanter (Ger) Movistar Team
108 Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
109 Oier Lazkano Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team
110 Savva Novikov (Rus) Equipo Kern Pharma
111 Carlos Garcia Pierna (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
112 Diego Lopez Fuentes (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
113 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal
114 Sébastien Grignard (Bel) Lotto Soudal
115 Filippo Conca (Ita) Lotto Soudal
116 Jon Barrenetxea Golzarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
117 Théo Delacroix (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux