Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes: Cristián Rodríguez wins ultra-mountainous race from 48 kilometre solo break

An epic 48-kilometre solo breakaway has seen Spain's Cristián Rodríguez clinch the biggest European victory of his career at the Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes one-day race.

The Arkéa - B&BHotels rider and former Tour of Rwanda winner took off his closest pursuers a few kilometres from the top of the hardest ascent of the day, the Hors Categorie Col de la Couillole and stayed away alone all the way to the finish at the summit of the Cat.1 Valberg.

Second on a day of 4,320 metres of vertical climbing was Kern Pharma's José Félix Parra, with Parra's teammate Ivan Sosa in third.

The ride of the day, though, was by Rodríguez, whose two-minute advantage at the foot of the Valberg barely diminished to a still notable margin of 1:42 on Parra by the top of the 14.4 kilometre ascent.

Thanks to his victory, the 30-year-old Spaniard joined climbers of the calibre of Lenny Martínez (Bahrain Victorious) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) in the palmares of the Meran'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes, one of France's toughest one-day climbing races. He has also likely considerably upped his chances, too, of a spot in the Arkéa line-up for the upcoming Tour de France.

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