National Championships 2022 – Spain – Road Race [FULL RACE] (ladies)

June 25, 2022

National Championships 2022 – Spain – Road Race WE – Sant Llorenç des Cardassar – Palma de Mallorca : 136,5 km

The Spanish National Championships are one of the biggest events in Spain and regularly draw in all kinds of riders, from those at the top of the WorldTour, to those riding for domestic amateur squads. The iconic red and gold jersey is one of the most recognisable jerseys in the sport of cycling and has seen several of the sport’s most legendary riders carry it on their shoulders. The championships were first held in 1897 and featured just one single event, an Elite Men’s Road Race. In the latter half of the 20th century the organisers began to add more events, including an Elite Women’s Road Race in 1979 and an U23 Men’s and Women’s race in 1999. Time trial events for both men and women were introduced in 1994, around about the same time that most other major European nations adopted the time trialling discipline.

Mavi Garcia continued her dominance of the Spanish national championships on Saturday, winning the women’s road race for a third year in a row.

Having already completed the same feat in the time trial in mid-week, she pulled off the triple-double, winning both of the major titles in all of the past three years.

If Garcia’s time trial victory was emphatic, he road race victory was extravagant, seeing her cross the line more than three minutes ahead of anyone else. It would have been more, had she not soaked up the celebrations in the final kilometre.

The 38-year-old went on the offensive early on the hilly 130km course in Mallorca. She went clear in a strong move of nine riders and then left them behind as the route intensified in the final 40km.

The Coll de Sa Creu – 6km at 5% – was the key climb scaled twice, and Garcia put her rivals to the sword. Despite a concerted chase behind, her lead grew and grew. When it went above four minutes, it was clearly game over.

Garcia sailed home, while Sandra Alonso (Ceratizit-WNT) won the sprint for second place from the chase group. The bronze medal went to Yurani Blanco Calbet (Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi).

“I wanted to win and was willing to go all-in,” said Garcia. “It took a lot out me because it might have looked easy but it wasn’t.”

Garcia, a latecomer to pro cycling, now has eight national titles to her name. She won the road race in her 2016 breakthrough before claiming the time trial in 2018 and has now won both in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Results :