Caleb Ewan sprints to Vuelta a Castilla y Leon victory(Image credit: Getty Images)
Caleb Ewan (Team Jayco AlUla) won the bunch sprint to claim the victory at the one-day Vuelta a Castilla y Leon. The Australian out-kicked runner-up Davide Cimolai (Movistar) and third-placed Jenthe Biermans (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) in La Cistérniga.
The peloton raced nearly 200km from Valladolid to La Cistérniga on a challenging route that included five category 3 climbs.
Six riders emerged in an early breakaway that included Carlos García Pierna (Equipo Kern Pharma), José Mendes (Victoria Sports Pro Cycling), Unai Cuadrado and Nicolás Alustiza (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Clément Alleno (Burgos-BH), and Edgar Curto (Illes Balears Arabay).
The breakaway gained a small advantage over the chasing field led by Jayco AlUla and Astana Qazaqsran that flourished out to over three minutes in the first third of the race.
Mendes was distanced from the break as they raced over the third claim of the day, Alto de Portillo, and Curto lost contact over the last ascent, Also de Olivares.
The gap dropped to under two minutes as the breakaway hit a headwind on the roads to the finish line with 35km still to go, and ten kilometres later, the gap was slashed to just 30 seconds.
With the field all together into the final, Jayco AlUla and Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team were the dominant lead-outs with Ewan taking the victory.
