GP Miguel Indurain 2018 [LAST 15 KM]

March 31, 2018

GP Miguel Indurain 2018 – Estella – Estella : 189,1 km

The race was inaugurated in 1951, but was limited to local competition. It was rebranded after the Spanish cyclist in 1998. In 2005, the race was upgraded to a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. For 2007 and 2008 the race was further upgraded to a 1.HC event. These higher grades have attracted an increasingly competitive and international field of racers.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) continued his run of spring success on Saturday, winning the GP Miguel Indurain race with a solo attack.

The 37-year-old had been tempted to stay in Belgium for Sunday’s Tour of Flanders after impressing at the mid-week Dwars door Vlaanderen. However, he preferred to head back to Spain and captained the Movistar team to take his ninth victory of 2018 in what is the team’s home race.

Mitchelton-Scott only had five riders in the warm-up race for the Vuelta al Pais Vasco but still tried to take on Movistar in the finale, sending Jack Haig up the road in the early break and then in a solo move. However, Valverde used his teammates wisely to lead the chase and launch other attacks, before making his own move on the Alto de Muru, the final climb of the race.

Carlos Verona tried to defend Mitchelton-Scott’s pride and went with him but was dropped on a short climb two kilometres from the finish. Valverde savoured a solo victory in Estella and was immediately congratulated by Miguel Indurain in person.

Verona finished 20 seconds behind, with Australia’s Nick Schulz (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) an impressive third at 1:04, leading home a front group of 14 riders that formed in the finale.

“I’m very happy to be able to win this edition for all that it means, with a tribute to (former team manager) José Miguel Echávarri. It’s always a beautiful race but this time I wanted to come and run for him,” Valverde said, confirming the real reason why he preferred to return to Spain and miss the Tour of Flanders.

“It was fast and windy all day, so the team did a spectacular job, controlling the pace at all times. There have been several teams who attacked on the last circuit; Mitchelton and Katusha were the most difficult to control. But we played it well, leaving just me and Carlos Verona up there.

“I’m happy to win again. I can only thank all the doctors who helped me recover from my injury, as well as my family for their great support and all the fans who have encouraged me since July. Next week I will be in Amorebieta before facing the Amstel Gold Race, Fleche-Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, my last races before taking a break.”

Results :

1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 4:41:18
2 Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton Scott 0:00:20
3 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Caja Rural – Seguros Rga 0:01:04
4 Eduard Prades (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country – 0:01:16
5 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
6 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:19
7 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha Alpecin 0:01:30
8 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:43
9 Simon Pilak (Slo) Team Katusha Alpecin
10 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Lokosphinx 0:02:03
11 Garikoitz Bravo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country – 0:02:59
12 César Fonte (Por) W52-Fc Porto 0:04:08
13 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 0:05:19
14 Alexander Evtushenko (Rus) Lokosphinx 0:05:28
15 Brandon Mcnulty (USA) Rally Cycling 0:06:26
16 Domingos Gonçalves (Por) Radio Popular – Boavista 0:07:36
17 Robert Power (Aus) Mitchelton Scott 0:07:55
18 Fernando Barcelo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country – 0:08:11
19 Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country – 0:08:13
20 Alexander Vdovin (Rus) Lokosphinx
21 Remy Di Gregorio (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence
22 Jordi Simon (Spa) Burgos – Bh
23 Robert Kišerlovski (Cro) Team Katusha Alpecin
24 Fabricio Ferrari (Uru) Caja Rural – Seguros Rga
25 Rui Vinhas (Por) W52-Fc Porto
26 Ibai Azurmendi (Spa) Team Euskadi
27 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling 0:08:23
28 David Lozano (Spa) Team Novo Nordis
29 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Team Katusha Alpecin
30 Oscar Cabedo (Spa) Burgos – Bh
31 Joao Rodrigues (Por) W52-Fc Porto
32 Beñat Txoperena (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country –
33 Julen Amezqueta (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros Rga
34 Luís Gomes (Por) Radio Popular – Boavista
35 Michel Ries (Lux) Polartec Kometa 0:08:27
36 Romain Combaud (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence
37 Danilo Celano (Ita) Caja Rural – Seguros Rga 0:08:31
38 Aritz Bagues (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country – 0:08:32
39 Txomin Juaristi Arrieta (Spa) Team Euskadi 0:08:33
40 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Interpro Stradalli Cyclin
41 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Katusha Alpecin
42 Juan A Lopez-Cozar (Spa) Team Euskadi
43 Jokin Etxabe Leturia (Spa) Interpro Stradalli Cyclin
44 Cristian Rodriguez (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros Rga
45 Josu Zabala (Spa) Caja Rural – Seguros Rga
46 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling 0:08:42
47 Nigel Ellsay (Can) Rally Cycling
48 Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton Scott 0:08:47
49 José Fernandes (Por) W52-Fc Porto
50 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling 0:08:55
51 Dmitrii Sokolov (Rus) Lokosphinx 0:08:57
52 Delio Fernandez (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence 0:09:10
53 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence 0:09:21
54 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Direct Energie 0:09:58
55 Angel Madrazo (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence 0:11:34
56 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Inteja Dominican Cycling 0:13:20
57 Jorge Cubero (Spa) Burgos – Bh 0:13:26
58 Ricardo Garcia (Spa) Team Euskadi
59 Daniel Lopez (Spa) Burgos – Bh
60 Joaquim Silva (Por) Caja Rural – Seguros Rga
61 Gotzon Martin Sanz (Spa) Team Euskadi 0:13:31
62 Nicolas Sessler (Bra) Burgos – Bh 0:13:33
63 Nikolay Mihaylov (Bul) Delko Marseille Provence 0:17:02
64 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordis 0:18:36
65 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordis
66 Adrian Gonzalez (Spa) Burgos – Bh 0:18:46
67 Ryan Anderson (Can) Rally Cycling 0:18:51
68 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton Scott 0:20:41
69 Michael Albasini (GBr) Mitchelton Scott
70 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Direct Energie 0:21:19
71 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie
72 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Direct Energie
73 Jeremy Cornu (Fra) Direct Energie
74 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Direct Energie
75 Emanuel Mini (Arg) Team Novo Nordis 0:21:30
76 Hendrus Van Ijzendoorn (Ned) Team Novo Nordis
77 Umberto Poli (Ita) Team Novo Nordis
78 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordis
79 Jon Ander Insausti (Spa) Team Euskadi 0:22:51
80 Peio Goikoetxea Goiogana (Spa) Team Euskadi 0:23:32
81 Mikel Elorza (Spa) Inteja Dominican Cycling
82 Artem Samolenkov (Rus) Lokosphinx
83 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Inteja Dominican Cycling
DNF Winner A. Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
DNF Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Nathan Haas (Aus) Team Katusha Alpecin
DNF Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Team Katusha Alpecin
DNF Javier Moreno (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence
DNF Oscar Rodriguez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country –
DNF Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Burgos – Bh
DNF Tyler Magner (USA) Rally Cycling
DNF Juan Camacho (Spa) Polartec Kometa
DNF Awet Habtom Tekle (Eri) Polartec Kometa
DNF Diego P. Sevilla (Spa) Polartec Kometa
DNF Miguel Ballesteros (Spa) Polartec Kometa
DNF Isaac Canton (Spa) Polartec Kometa
DNF Patrick Gamper (Aut) Polartec Kometa
DNF Jose Alfredo Aguirre (Mex) Inteja Dominican Cycling
DNF Ignacio Sarabia Diaz (Mex) Inteja Dominican Cycling
DNF Adrian S Nuñez (Dom) Inteja Dominican Cycling
DNF Jesus Alberto Rubio (Spa) Inteja Dominican Cycling
DNF Yukinori Hishinuma (Jpn) Interpro Stradalli Cyclin
DNF Jayson Rousseau (Fra) Interpro Stradalli Cyclin
DNF Ken-Levi Eikeland (Nor) Interpro Stradalli Cyclin
DNF Jonas Hjorth (Nor) Interpro Stradalli Cyclin
DNF Yury Trofimov (Rus) Radio Popular – Boavista
DNF Egor Silin (Rus) Radio Popular – Boavista
DNF João Salgado (Por) Radio Popular – Boavista
DNF Filipe Cardoso (Por) Radio Popular – Boavista
DNF Oscar Pelegri (Spa) Radio Popular – Boavista
DNF Mamyr Stash (Rus) Lokosphinx
DNF Angel Lorenzo Sanchez (Spa) W52-Fc Porto
DNF António Carvalho (Por) W52-Fc Porto
DNF Tiago Ferreira (Por) W52-Fc Porto