Spanish Road Championships: Iván Romeo continues stellar run of form to take solo road race victory

Under-23 time trial world champion Iván Romeo (Movistar) soloed to victory in the men's road race at the Spanish national championships, going away alone with 20km to go to claim his first elite national title.

Fernando Barceló (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), who was with Romeo until 20km to go, held off two chasers to take second, whilst Roger Adrià (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) took third in a two-up sprint against Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek).

It was a long and hot day in the Spanish nationals down in Granada, with the riders battling against 40-degree heat as they chased the national champions jersey.

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Heading into the final part of the hilly route around Granada, the front of the race had been whittled down to fewer than 10 riders, with López in the lead alone for some time.

However, the chasers caught López, and as the attacks intensified into the finale, Romeo and Barceló attacked together with 28km to go, going clear of the select group.

Then, at 20km to go, Romeo went away on his own, never to be seen again, using his world-class time trialing skills to hold on all the way to the finish, winning by 56 seconds in the end.

Barceló held off the chasing pair of Adrià and López, beating them by a whole minute as the heat saw big gaps develop on the road to Granada.

The rest of the previous lead group came in nearly three minutes down as the rest of the race rolled home in dribs and drabs behind a delighted Romeo, who took his first WorldTour win two weeks ago at the Critérium du Dauphiné. He wore the yellow jersey there, and will now wear the Spanish jersey for the next 12 months.

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