Spilak solos to victory at GP Miguel Indurain

Simon Spilak (Katusha) soloed to victory in the Gran Premio Miguel Indurain, securing both the Russian WorldTour squad's second consecutive win at the Spanish one-day event as well as the 26-year-old Slovenian's first triumph in Katusha colours. As an added bonus for Katusha, it would be the squad's second victory of the day as earlier Rudiger Selig prevailed in the Netherlands at the Volta Limburg Classic.

After dropping the last of his companions from the day's early break with 40km remaining, Spilak rode the remainder of the race alone to finish 1:32 ahead of runner-up Igor Anton (Euskaldel-Euskadi), while Peter Stetina (Garmin-Sharp) continued his good run of form on display at the Volta a Catalunya to secure the final podium spot two seconds later in the uphill finale.

"I'm very happy of this win," said Spilak. "It's a pleasure to repeat Daniel Moreno's triumph last year and it's a double satisfaction because it's my first victory at Katusha. I think it was a spectacular race: I was in a great shape, and when I saw my rivals in the breakaway were running out of fuel I tried by myself and I managed to take this solo win."

Spilak spent much of the 179.3km race out on the attack as he was part of a 12-man break which formed after just 25km of racing had transpired. Joining the Slovenian in the escape group were Cristiano Salerno (Cannondale), Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp), Benat Intxausti and Javier Moreno (Movistar), Mikel Landa (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Wilson Marentes (Colombia), Karol Domagalski (Caja Rural), Jesse Anthony (Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies), Igor Merino (Euskadi) plus Juan Chamorro and Ever Rivera (472-Colombia).

After building up a lead of nearly nine minutes on the peloton, the break began to fracture on the hilly terrain with Spilak, Intxausti and Dennis going clear with more than 70km remaining.

On the day's fourth of six categorised climbs, the category 2 Alto de Lezaun, Spilak sensed weakness in his two companions and went out on a solo attack with 40km to go to the finish.

The Slovenian put on a a show of strength as he increased his lead over Intxausti and Dennis to three minutes with 20km remaining, while the peloton pursued at five minutes back.

While Intxausti and Dennis would be caught by the peloton, Spilak continued alone to the finish to seal an impressive victory as the sole survivor of the day's early escape.

In addition to the race victory, Spilak would also take the day's mountain classification while two other riders in the break made good on their stint off the front: Wilson Marentes (Colombia) won the sprint classification while Jesse Anthony (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) secured the special sprint prize.