Alejandro Valverde wins on gravel debut at UCI World Series opener La Indomable

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Alejandro Valverde may have switched his long road racing career for gravel racing, but the 42-year-old is still racking up the wins.

The Spaniard made his gravel debut for the Movistar Team Gravel Squad at the La Indomable race in Spain on Sunday and took a solo victory at the first UCI Gravel World Series event of the season.

The race, run over 105km in Berja, saw Valverde take the win with a long solo effort from very early on, eventually crossing the line with an advantage of over 4:43 to second-placed Ismael Esteban Aguero (Logos Energia). Cameron Mason (Trinity Racing) rounded out the podium at 5:15 down. 

In the women's race, there was an even more dominant display as Carolin Schiff (Canyon-CLLCTV) won by more than 14 minutes, with her teammate and fellow German Jade Treffeisen finishing runner-up. British rider Hayley Simmonds, another member of Movistar's new gravel squad, took the final podium spot at at 21:59.

Riders tackled a mostly gravel route in Andalucía, with a 25km climb from the start among 2,400 metres of climbing only adding to the difficulty of the day.

La Indomable is the first of 16 events on the UCI Gravel World Series for the 2023 season, with 12 events in Europe joining two in North America, one in South Africa, and one in Australia on the calendar which provide qualifying points for this year's UCI Gravel World Championships.

The next races in the series come with South Africa's Swartberg 100 and the Dutch race, Gran Fondo Limburg, next weekend. 

The Gravel World Championships will be held in Veneto in October.

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