The longest photo-finish debate – Clásica de Almería jury change results nine days after the race

The results of the Clásica de Almería were updated on Tuesday, nine days after the race took place.

After the lengthiest of reviews of the photo-finish, Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet-Rose Rockets) was upgraded to the podium, at the expense of Matteo Moschetti (Pinarello-Q36.5).

Biniam Girmay (NSN Pro Cycling) clearly won the Clásica de Almeria in the south of Spain last Sunday, February 15, with Milan Fretin the runner-up just behind. But it was the tightest of calls for final podium place between Groenewegen and Moschetti, throwing their bikes to the line on either side of the Eritrean winner.

At the time, Moschetti was declared in third place, with Groenewegen in fourth.

This was disputed at the time by Unibet-Rose Rockets, albeit in a tongue-in-cheek way. The team, which has built its marketing on social media and YouTube, posted a photo screenshot from the television coverage showing the moment Groenewegen’s and Moschetti’s wheels hit the line.

“Can someone share the finish photo? Asking for a friend…” read the caption.

More than a week later, they had their response.

“After a reinvestigation of the finish photo at Clasica de Almeria, we got a message that Dylan actually finished 3rd instead of 4th, turning a strong sprint into a podium,” said the team on Tuesday.

“You didn’t throw away those flowers already, right?” they added, in a message to Moschetti’s Pinarello-Q36.5 team.

The UCI results have indeed been updated, with Groenewegen upgraded to third place. It's not a win, but does add 25 UCI points to the team's ranking – every little bit helps.