Pelucchi takes Clasica de Almeria victory
By Cycling News published
Italian neo-pro earns first win for Geox-TMC
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.
1 | Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Geox-TMC | 4:22:56 |
2 | Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team | |
3 | Pim Ligthart (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
4 | Christophe Laborie (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | |
5 | Bartlomiej Matysiak (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
6 | Aitor Galdos Alonso (Spa) Caja Rural | |
7 | Diego Milan Jimenez (Spa) Caja Rural | |
8 | Robert Förster (Ger) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling | |
9 | Michal Golas (Pol) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
10 | Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Andalucia Caja Granada | |
11 | Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
12 | Julian Dean (NZl) Team Garmin-Cervelo | |
13 | Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
14 | Jan Bakelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | |
15 | Adrian Saez (Spa) Orbea Continental | |
16 | Michel Kreder (Ned) Team Garmin-Cervelo | |
17 | Marko Kump (Slo) Geox-TMC | |
18 | Christian Meier (Can) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling | |
19 | Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
20 | Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
21 | Benat Urain Epelde (Spa) Orbea Continental | |
22 | David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Geox-TMC | |
23 | Jon Aberasturi Izaga (Spa) Orbea Continental | |
24 | Blazej Janiaczyk (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
25 | David Gutierrez Gutierrez (Spa) Geox-TMC | |
26 | Pablo Lechuga Rodriguez (Spa) Andalucia Caja Granada | |
27 | Gert Dockx (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | |
28 | Alan Perez Lezaun (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
29 | Peio Bilbao (Spa) Orbea Continental | |
30 | Ricardo Garcia Ambroa (Spa) Orbea Continental | |
31 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
32 | José Joao Pimenta Costa Mendes (Por) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
33 | Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
34 | Jean-Lou Paiani (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | |
35 | Francis De Greef (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | |
36 | Jens Voigt (Ger) Leopard Trek | |
37 | Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | |
38 | Lukasz Bodnar (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
39 | Stefan Denifl (Aut) Leopard Trek | |
40 | Oleg Chuzhda (Ukr) Caja Rural | |
41 | Manuel Ortega Ocana (Spa) Andalucia Caja Granada | |
42 | Carlos Oyarzun (Chi) Movistar Team | |
43 | Mario Aerts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | |
44 | Thomas Peterson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo | |
45 | Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
46 | Ruben Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural | |
47 | Adrian Honkisz (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
48 | Jose Luis Cano (Spa) Andalucia Caja Granada | |
49 | Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team | |
50 | Eloy Ruiz Pinto (Spa) Andalucia Caja Granada | |
51 | Christian Vandevelde (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo | |
52 | Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
53 | Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
54 | Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | |
55 | Anders Lund (Den) Leopard Trek | |
56 | Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Geox-TMC | |
57 | Frank Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek | |
58 | Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
59 | Daniel Martin (Irl) Team Garmin-Cervelo | |
60 | Wouter Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
61 | Martijn Keizer (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
62 | Joaquin Sobrino (Spa) Caja Rural | |
63 | Xabier Zabalo Imaz (Spa) Orbea Continental | |
64 | Paul Poux (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | |
65 | Ruslan Pydgornyy (Ukr) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
66 | Jean Marc Marino (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | 0:00:12 |
67 | Alberto Ongarato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:00:18 |
68 | Oscar Pujol Munoz (Spa) Omega Pharma-Lotto | 0:00:24 |
69 | Rory Sutherland (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling | 0:00:25 |
70 | Sébastien Joly (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | 0:00:29 |
71 | Vasili Kiryienka (Blr) Movistar Team | 0:00:31 |
72 | Matteo Carrara (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:00:39 |
73 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
74 | Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling | |
75 | Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | |
76 | Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | |
77 | Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | 0:00:48 |
78 | Victor Cabedo (Spa) Orbea Continental | 0:00:54 |
79 | Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Movistar Team | 0:01:07 |
80 | Aritz Etxebarria (Spa) Orbea Continental | 0:01:18 |
81 | Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | 0:01:54 |
82 | Cyril Bessy (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | |
83 | Peter Stetina (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo | |
84 | Julian Sanchez Pimienta (Spa) Caja Rural | |
85 | Jose Vicente Toribio Alcolea (Spa) Andalucia Caja Granada | 0:02:51 |
86 | Jose Luis Roldan Carmona (Spa) Andalucia Caja Granada | |
87 | Juan Javier Estrada Ruiz (Spa) Andalucia Caja Granada | |
88 | Arkaitz Duran Aroca (Spa) Geox-TMC | |
89 | Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team | |
90 | Javier Moreno Bazan (Spa) Caja Rural | |
91 | Xavier Tondo Volpini (Spa) Movistar Team | |
92 | Christopher Jones (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling |

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