Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana 2022 [FULL RACE] (spanish)

January 23, 2022

Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana 2022 – La Nucia – Valencia : 175 km

The Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (Valencian pronunciation: [ˈvɔlta a la komuniˈtad valensiˈana]; English: Tour of the Valencian Community or Tour of Valencia) is a road cycling stage race held in the Valencian Community (Comunitat Valenciana), Spain. Its position in the cycling calendar means it is often used as preparation for the spring classics or the grand tours which take place later in the season

Giovanni Lonardi (Eolo-Kometa) won the Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana 1969, the first race of the new European road season. The Italian unleashed a powerful sprint to beat Amaury Capiot (Arkéa-Samsic) into second place in a bunch finish in Valencia, while Chris Lawless (Team TotalEnergies) took third.

It was Lonardi’s first outing in the colours of Eolo-Kometa since he joined from Bardiani-CSF this winter and his tenure began in the brightest possible fashion on a grey and drizzly afternoon on the Costa Blanca, where winter has not yet given way to spring.

As was the case a year ago, the route lent itself to a bunch sprint, with the hilly opening followed by a flat and fast run-in to the finish in Valencia. So it proved, though the rapid finale was marred by a brace of crashes in the peloton, including one in the finishing straight that ended the challenge of pre-race favourite Niccolò Bonifazio (Team TotalEnergies).

That tumble left Bonifazio’s teammate Lawless little choice but to try his own luck in the sprint with an effort from distance and the Briton’s fine turn of speed saw him hit the front inside the final 200 metres.

Lonardi had been expertly piloted by Eolo-Kometa in the closing stages, however, and he dived for Lawless’ wheel before coming past within sight of the line. Capiot battled to get back on terms, but he had to settle for second place as Lonardi claimed a decisive victory, the fourth of his professional career, to the delight of manager Alberto Contador, who immortalised the moment with a selfie beyond the finish line.

The 175km race was animated by an nine-man break that forged clear shortly after the start in La Nucia as the route brought the peloton towards the Coll de Rates, scene of one of Tadej Pogačar’s pre-season feats of strength.

The ascent is all too familiar to the many riders who have made the Costa Blanca their winter training base, and it was a neo-professional, the impressive Sandy Dujardin (TotalEnergies) who was first to the top here.

Dujardin was joined in the early move by Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies), Xabier Azparren (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Alessandro Verre (Team Arkéa-Samsic), Filippo Zana (Bardiani-CSF Faizanè), Eugenio Sanchez (Equipo Kern Pharma), Roger Adriá (Equipo Kern Pharma), Daniel Hoyos (Electro Hiper Europa-Caldas) and Marton Dina (Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team), but although they combined smoothly, their advantage over the peloton was never permitted to extend beyond two minutes.

Burgos-BH and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA had missed the move, and they performed the bulk of the pace-making behind as rain fell gently over the hinterland of Valencia for the early part of the afternoon.

The terrain and the weather became more amenable as the day progressed, while the racing grew more intense. The escapees still held a lead of 1:30 over the bunch as they enter the final 50km, but the unity of the move was beginning to fragment.

Inside the final 40km, Dujardin, Verre and Adriá clipped away from the rest of the break, and this trio put up spirited resistance as the chase grew more urgent behind. They still had almost a minute in hand as they approach the final 20km, but a sharp acceleration in the bunch put paid to their rally, and they were clawed back with a little under 10km remaining.

A bunch finish was inevitable by that point on, particularly now that TotalEnergies could hit the front to discourage any late attacks. Although the early rain had abated by the time the peloton hit the streets of Valencia, early-season nervousness was still on show, as exhibited by the pair of crashes in the finale. The first came with 4km remaining and the second, inside the last kilometre, put paid to Bonifazio’s chances, but there was no argument about Lonardi’s sprint.

Arkéa-Samsic had been prominent on behalf of Capiot on the approach to the flamme rouge, but a delegation from Eolo-Kometa took up the reins inside the final kilometre, piloting Lonardi into position. Lonardi avoided the crash within sight of the line and then produced a well-time effort to score victory ahead of Capiot and Lawless.

Results :
1 Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 4:02:34
2 Amaury Capiot (Bel) Arkea-Samsic
3 Christopher Lawless (GBr) TotalEnergies
4 Alex Jaime Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:00:02
5 Antonio Jesús Soto (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
6 Jesus Ezquerra Muela (Spa) Burgos-BH
7 Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane
8 Juan Diego Hoyos Cano (Col) Electro Hiper Europa – Caldas
9 Francisco Galvan Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
10 Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
11 Alex Molenaar (Ned) Burgos-BH 0:00:06
12 Davide Gabburo (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane
13 David Gonzalez Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
14 Xavier Canellas (Spa) Java Kiwi Atlántico
15 Davide Bais (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
16 Oscar Pelegri Ferrandis (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:00:10
17 Miguel Ángel Ballesteros (Spa) Electro Hiper Europa – Caldas
18 Matthew Teggart (Irl) WIV Sungod 0:00:12
19 Samuele Zoccarato (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane
20 Julen Irizar Laskurain (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
21 Pelayo Sanchez (Spa) Burgos-BH
22 Diego Rubio Hernandez (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:00:16
23 Fabien Doubey (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:17
24 Sandy Dujardin (Fra) TotalEnergies
25 Clément Russo (Fra) Arkea-Samsic
26 Alan Riou (Fra) Arkea-Samsic
27 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Arkea-Samsic
28 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:20
29 Mateu Esterlrich (Spa) Electro Hiper Europa – Caldas 0:00:27
30 Markus Pajur (Est) Arkea-Samsic
31 Mirco Maestri (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
32 Isaac Canton Serrano (Spa) Manuela Fundacion 0:00:31
33 Fabio Mazzucco (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane
34 Pablo Alonso Montes (Spa) Electro Hiper Europa – Caldas
35 Mikel Iturria Segurola (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
36 Ibai Azurmendi Sagastibeltza (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
37 Theodor Obholzer (GBr) Saint Piran
38 Diego Pablo Sevilla Lopez (Spa) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:00:35
39 Harrison Bailey (Aus) Electro Hiper Europa – Caldas 0:00:46
40 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:56
41 Daniel Jimenez (Spa) Manuela Fundación Continental 0:01:01
42 Josh Whitehead (GBr) WIV Sungod 0:01:05
43 Eugenio Sanchez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
44 Sergio Garcia (Spa) EOLO-Kometa
45 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane
46 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane
47 Erik Martorell (Spa) Manuela Fundacion
48 Joan Bou Company (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:08
49 Pau Miquel (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
50 Filippo Zana (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane 0:01:16
51 Paul Ourselin (Fra) TotalEnergies
52 Héctor Carretero (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:01:22
53 Sergio Roman Martin Galan (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
54 Derek Gee (Can) Israel Cycling Academy 0:01:29
55 Aritz Bagües Kalparsoro (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:31
56 Fabien Grellier (Fra) TotalEnergies
57 Manuel Peñalver Aniorte (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:01:35
58 Eduardo Perez-Landaluce (Spa) Manuela Fundación Continental 0:01:44
59 Gaizka Gurrutxaga (Spa) Java Kiwi Atlántico
60 Jake Crossley (GBr) Saint Piran 0:01:53
61 Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Burgos-BH
62 Jetse Bol (Ned) Burgos-BH
63 Jon Barrenetxea Golzarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
64 Barry Miller (USA) Java Kiwi Atlántico
65 Thomas Armstrong (GBr) Electro Hiper Europa – Caldas
66 Márton Dina (Hun) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
67 Roi Weinberg (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:01:56
68 Nadav Raisberg (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
69 Edo Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
70 Alan Jousseaume (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:02:04
71 Alessandro Verre (Ita) Arkea-Samsic
72 Vojtech Repa (Cze) Equipo Kern Pharma
73 Jakub Boucek (Cze) Israel Cycling Academy
74 Xabier Mikel Azparren Irurzun (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
75 Daniel Viegas (Por) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:02:50
76 Yuki Ishihara (Jpn) Java Kiwi Atlántico 0:02:51
77 Riley Pickrell (Can) Israel Cycling Academy 0:02:59
78 Joel Nicolau Beltran (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:03:02
79 Roger Adria Oliveras (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
80 Orluis Alberto Aular Sanabria (Ven) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:03:18
81 Donavan Grondin (Fra) Arkea-Samsic 0:03:52
82 Marcos Jurado (Spa) Electro Hiper Europa – Caldas
83 Iúri Leitão (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
84 Rory Townsend (Irl) WIV Sungod
85 Damien Clayton (GBr) WIV Sungod
86 Jacob Scott (GBr) WIV Sungod 0:04:06
87 Gruffudd Lewis (GBr) WIV Sungod 0:04:11
88 Jenson Young (GBr) Saint Piran 0:04:48
89 Charles Page (GBr) Saint Piran
90 Edwin Torres (Ven) Java Kiwi Atlántico 0:05:13
91 Raul Garcia Pierna (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:05:31
92 Robert Scott (GBr) WIV Sungod 0:06:26
93 Matthew Bostock (GBr) WIV Sungod 0:07:39
94 Manuele Tarozzi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane 0:08:13
DNF Ilkhan Dostiyev (Kaz) Vino SKO Team
DNF Vladimir Mulagaleyev (Kaz) Vino SKO Team
DNF Igor Romanov (Kaz) Vino SKO Team
DNF Yegor Strelnikov (Kaz) Vino SKO Team
DNF Raúl Rota (Spa) Manuela Fundación Continental
DNF Santiago Mesa (Col) Manuela Fundación Continental
DNF Aviv Peretz (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF William Bjergfelt (GBr) Saint Piran
DNF Leon Mazzone (GBr) Saint Piran
DNF Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) TotalEnergies
DNF Josu Etxeberria Azpilikueta (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
DNF Nikiforos Arvanitou (Grc) Java Kiwi Atlántico
DNF Alessio Gasparini (Ita) Java Kiwi Atlántico
DNF Bauyrzhan Zhaparuly (Kaz) Vino SKO Team
DNF Vladimir Koltunov (Kaz) Vino SKO Team
DNF Ruslan Aliyev (Kaz) Vino SKO Team
DNF Francisco Casaus (Spa) Manuela Fundación Continental
DNF Vicente Hernaiz (Spa) Manuela Fundación Continental
DNF Yuval Ben Moshe (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) Saint Piran
DNF Tom Mazzone (GBr) Saint Piran
DNF Antonio Angulo Sampedro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
DNF Daniel Hoyos Largo (Col) Electro Hiper Europa – Caldas
DNF Tomoya Koyama (Jpn) Java Kiwi Atlántico
DNF Alexandr Semenov (Kaz) Vino SKO Team