GP Miguel Indurain 2021 [FULL RACE]

April 3, 2021

GP Miguel Indurain 202 – Estella – Estella : 203,2 km

The Gran Premio Miguel Indurain, which was formerly known as the Grand Prix Navarre up until the late 90s, is a Spanish semi-Classic and one of the few one-day races on the European calendar that actually favours the climbers. The race first debuted back in 1951, but it was limited to just amateurs and local riders until the late 80s. Once the race opened its doors to the pros however it suddenly saw a number of legendary riders etch their names onto its winners list, like Pedro Delgado, Alex Zülle and Miguel Indurain. In 1998 the race was rebranded to honour Indurain, a local rider and Spain’s most successful road cyclist. The man many nickname ‘Big Mig’ won seven Grand Tours over the course of his 12-year career and, to this day, he’s the only rider in history to win five consecutive Tour de France titles – a record that looks destined to stand the test of time. The Gran Premio Miguel Indurain may have started as an amateur event, but once it joined the UCI’s Europe Tour in 2005 it steadily worked its way up the one-day hierarchy. It’s now part of the UCI ProSeries and is recognised as a 1.Pro event.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) claimed his first victory in 18 months at the Gran Premio Miguel Indurain, going clear on the steep Ibarra ‘wall’ to collect a record-equalling third title at the one-day race.

The 40-year-old, winner of more than 100 races, hadn’t raised his arms since the 2019 Vuelta a España and the relief was palpable as he provided his team’s first win of the season in their home region of Navarre and showed there’s still life in his own career yet.

Valverde convincingly dropped the Astana duo of Alexey Lutsenko and Luis Leon Sanchez on the late Ibarra climb – 600 metres at 11 per cent – before safely negotiating the equally steep descent to the line.

“This victory is for everyone who has supported me. I’m super happy,” Valverde said.

“Thanks to team. It was a complicated one but we tried to control the race from the start and we were able to come away with the win.”

Valverde first hit out on the Alto de Eraul – 3.8km at 5.5 per cent – with 10km to do, quickly blowing apart a peloton that still counted 40 members. He accelerated again on the narrow streets at the top of the climb to get across to Sánchez, the last survivor from an earlier move.

Sánchez didn’t work with him, since he had teammates Lutsenko and Omar Fraile in what became a 10-man chase group. Lutsenko attacked from it on the Alto de Muru – 1.3km at 4 per cent – but looked to have failed in his efforts when Valverde issued another vicious acceleration just as the Kazakh champion was on the verge of making contact. However, on the descent, Lutsenko did get there, and indeed flew past the Spanish duo to hit the Ibarra wall at full tilt.

The trio soon came back together and it wasn’t long before Valverde – a five-time winner of La Flèche Wallonne – made the difference on the punishingly steep gradients.

Lutsenko crossed the line in second place at six seconds, followed by his teammate Sanchez 11 seconds later.

“Astana were one of the strongest teams – we knew that,” Valverde said. “Obviously I was worried at the end there. Both of them are very very strong and I knew it would be complicated. Lutsenko went past very fast but we got back on and I was able to put in the final attack.”

Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Elie Gesbert (Arkea-Samsic), Krists Neilands (Israel Start-Up Nation), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), and Fraile were all part of that chase group and finished 20 seconds down. Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), who responded to Valverde’s first acceleration on the Eraul, lost a little ground on Ibarra but still rounded out the top 10.

Results :
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 5:10:47
2 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech 0:00:06
3 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:00:15
4 Peio Bilbao Lopez De Armentia (Spa) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:17
5 Elie Gesbert (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:18
6 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Start-up Nation 0:00:21
7 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
8 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis
9 Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech
10 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:30
11 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation
12 Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:31
13 Pierre Latour (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:00:49
14 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:53
15 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:54
16 Roger Adria Oliveras (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:00:59
17 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:03
18 Jesus Ezquerra Muela (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:01:04
19 Mathieu Burgaudeau (Fra) Total Direct Energie
20 Sebastian Henao Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
21 Julien Simon (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:01:06
22 Kevin Colleoni (Ita) Team BikeExchange
23 Simon Geschke (Ger) Cofidis
24 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:08
25 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers
26 James Piccoli (Can) Israel Start-up Nation
27 Alejandro Osorio Carvajal (Col) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
28 Urko Berrade Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:01:14
29 Mikel Iturria Segurola (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:18
30 Frederico Figueiredo (Por) Efapel
31 Jose Felix Parra Cuerda (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:01:21
32 Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:01:25
33 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
34 Cristian Rodriguez Martin (Spa) Total Direct Energie
35 Carlos Verona Quintanilla (Spa) Movistar Team
36 Nathan Brown (USA) Rally Cycling 0:01:34
37 Ben Swift (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:01:42
38 Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:01:59
39 Jonathan Lastra Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:02:05
40 Mikel Nieve Iturralde (Spa) Team BikeExchange 0:02:13
41 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:02:22
42 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:02:46
43 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:40
44 Fernando Barceló Aragon (Spa) Cofidis 0:04:50
45 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis
46 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
47 Jefferson Cepeda Ortiz (Ecu) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
48 Eddie Dunbar (Irl) Ineos Grenadiers
49 Jhojan Orlando Garcia Susa (Col) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
50 Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:05:57
51 Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team
52 Thomas Armstrong (GBr) Electro Hiper Europa 0:06:34
53 Antonio Angulo Sampedro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
54 Sebastian Berwick (Aus) Israel Start-up Nation 0:06:53
55 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Bahrain Victorious 0:07:01
56 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling 0:08:04
57 Mauricio Moreira (Uru) Efapel 0:08:06
58 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:08:28
59 Diego Pablo Sevilla Lopez (Spa) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
60 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Cofidis
61 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates
62 Oscar Cabedo Carda (Spa) Burgos-BH
63 Andrey Amador (CRc) Ineos Grenadiers
64 Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
65 Andres Camilo Ardila Ordoñez (Col) UAE Team Emirates
66 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:08:53
67 Damien Howson (Aus) Team BikeExchange 0:09:13
68 Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis
69 Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:09:31
70 Thibault Guernalec (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:09:37
71 Diego Lopez Fuentes (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
72 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:09:41
73 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Burgos-Bh
74 Julen Irizar Laskurain (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:10:49
75 Ibon Ruiz Sedano (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:10:51
76 Raul Garcia Pierna (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
77 Barnabás Peák (Hun) Team BikeExchange 0:13:44
78 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Arkea-Samsic
79 Sergio Araiz Michel (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:15:05
80 Alan Riou (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
81 Carlos Canal Blanco (Spa) Burgos-BH
82 Julen Amezqueta Moreno (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
83 Oscar Pelegri Ferrandis (Spa) Electro Hiper Europa
84 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain Victorious
85 Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
86 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Start-up Nation
87 Marcos Jurado Rodriguez (Spa) Electro Hiper Europa
88 Ibai Azurmendi Sagastibeltza (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
89 Jon Irisarri Ricon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
90 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:20:47
91 Robin Plamondon (Can) Israel Cycling Academy
92 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:20:51
93 Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Burgos-BH
94 Juan Diego Alba Bolivar (Col) Movistar Team
95 Josu Etxeberria Azpilikueta (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA