Pelucchi takes Clasica de Almeria victory

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Neo-pro Matteo Pelucchi (Geox-TMC) was the surprise winner of the Clasica de Almeria on Sunday. The 22-year-old Italian bested Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) and Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM) in the field sprint finale to earn the first victory of his career, as well as the first win for his Spanish Pro Continental squad.

Early in the 179.5km Spanish one-day race a strong breakaway went clear including such riders as Jens Voigt (Leopard Trek), Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo), Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Michael Matthews (Rabobank) and Ruslan Pydgornyy (Vacansoleil-DCM).

This move was eventually neutralised and a trio containing Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM), Francisco Ventoso (Movistar) and Victor Cabedo (Orbea Continental) made their bid for victory. The trio worked well together late into the race, but the peloton brought them back inside of five kilometres to go.

The peloton stayed together through to the finish where Pelucchi notched the first win of his professional career.