Warren Barguil wins Gran Premio Miguel Indurain

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Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic) came late in a hectic downhill sprint to win the Gran Premio Miguel Indurain.

The one-day race was reduced to 192km, with several key climbs removed from the route due to overnight snow and cold conditions in the Basque Country. However, it remained a race for the climbers with the late steep climb above the finish in Estella sparking late attacks.

Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies) got away with Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) but other riders joined them on the twisting descent to the finish, with riders spread across the road as they sprint to the line.

Barguil came off the wheels and timed his final kick to perfection to beat Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech).

"It was a very close sprint but I had the speed to win it. I'm always ready for a final sprint and I'm really happy I was able to pull it off," Barguil said.

"I wasn't confident about the race going ahead but in the end, it wasn't that cold and I felt good. It turned out to be a good day."

Riders and teams awoke to a thick covering of snow 24 hours after seeing their colleagues experience the same wintry conditions in Belgium before the Tour of Flanders.

However, this was a race day and the show must go on. Fortunately, the race organisers agreed to cut the three major climbs of the race: the Guirguillano, Lezáun and Eraúl but that still left 2400m to climb around Estella, in the autonomous community of Navarre in northern Spain.

The race started under heavy rain and the peloton remained together for the opening 40km.

Paul Lapeira (AG2R Citroën), the USA's Stephen Bassett (Human Powered Health), Jon Barrenetxea (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Alex Martin (Eolo-Kometa), Xabier Mikel Azparren (Euskaltel – Euskadi), Rafael Reis (Glassdrive Q8 Anicolor), Oscar Cabedo (Burgos-BH), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Ivan Cobo (Equipo Kern Pharma) then formed the break of he day and opened a gap of three minutes, with local team Movistar and UAE Team Emirates leading the peloton.

Bahrain Victorious and then Arkea-Samsic also joined the chase with 60km to go, with the break's lead falling to 1:30 as a consequence.  Bassett tried a solo attack but was soon brought back before the peloton arrived to race aggressively on the hilly finishing circuits.

Enric Mas (Movistar) sparked an attack on the first climb above Estella, with Gorka Izagirre (Cofidis) also aggressive. They were joined by Luis León Sánchez, Jefferson Cepeda, Victor Lafay and Aleksandr Vlasov. However, the peloton chased them down at the start of the last lap.

On the final climb, with just 2.5km to go, Latour attacked first and was joined by an impressive-looking Hirschi. However, the technical descent and the television motorbike slowing the move meant their lead was reduced and a small, select group formed for the downhill sprint.

Clarke and Vlasov hit out first but Barguil came from behind with speed to hit the line first and give Arkea-Samsic their eighth victory of 2022.