Kaufmann and Kaess win Andalucia Bike Race

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Centurion Vaude's Markus Kaufmann and Jochen Kass won the 2014 Andalucia Bike Race on Friday. The pair started the final stage with a decent advantage, so the real fight was for the other two spots on the podium.

Topeak Ergon Team, Extremadura, JBG and Caloi Teams were the four squads trying to make the podium.

After a "very hard" day due to the route's characteristics and their fatigue levels, Topeak's Robert Mennen and Kristian Hynek won the final stage and secured third overall on the podium.

Hynek won the race in 2011 and Mennen in 2013, but 2014 was the first time the duo was racing together. Both were happy to get their racing relationship off to a good start.

JBG finished second on the stage ahead of Centurion Vaude and Caloi while Spaniards Alejandro Díaz de la Peña and Pedro Romero were fifth on the day, but still fast enough for second overall.

The Swiss Stöckli team, who had been in podium contention, ended up a bit behind the other favorites due to Mathias Flückiger's ankle injury.

Among the women, Polar Racing Team's Sandra Santanyes and Claudia Galicia won the final stage and the overall. They are the first Spanish women to win the race. Anna Villar and Mercé Pacios, who started as the race leaders, were second overall and third in today's stage. Third position overall went to Muriel Bouhet and Susana Alonso.

Milena Landtwing and Philipp Berger completed their sweep of winning all mixed stages plus the overall.

644 racers out of 716 finished. 72 dropped out for various reasons.

Results