Ruta del Sol: Bennati wins stage 1 in Sevilla

Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff) claimed the sprint victory on the opening stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia-Ruta Ciclista del Sol, thanks to perfect positioning in a critical roundabout just ahead of the line. 

The Italian made the sprint look easy, jumping around Bert Van Lerberghe (Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise), who initiated the sprint with roughly 300 metres to go, to take the stage win and the first leader’s jersey. Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) finished third.

It was Bennati's first win for Tinkoff, and only his second victory in the last four seasons. His most recent came while racing with the Italian National Team in the GP Industria & Commercio di Prato last September.

The Ruta del Sol opened with a challenging 165.2km race from Almonaster La Real to Sevilla. The peloton faced climbs over Alto de Jabugo (14km), Puerto de los Pinos (32km) and Alto Castalio del Robledo (52km). Although the course remained lumpy after the succession of three climbs, it was predominantly downhill during the last half and ended with a flat and fast final 30km.

Four riders escaped from the main field; Imanol Estevez (Euskadi Basque Country - Murias), Marcin Mrozek (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Jérôme Baugnies (Wanty - Groupe Gobert) and Evgeny Shalunov (Gazprom-RusVelo).

They held onto a slim 1:30 gap on the bunch during the closing 20km, but the flat run-in to the finish line in Sevilla made for a perfect bunch sprint scenario that the teams with strong sprinters; Trek-Segafredo’s Fabio Felline, Movistar’s Lobato, Tinkoff’s Jay McCarthy and Bennati, and Team Sky’s Ben Swift, among others, weren’t willing to give up.

The dark shades of Team Sky amassed at the front of the peloton with just under 10km and the Tinkoff men settled in just behind, followed by Movistar. They held a steady, quick speed over the last highway roller, as not to disrupt their formation for the final.

With just five kilometres to the finish line, Estevez, Mrozek, Baugnies and Shalunov desperately tried to hold on to the last 30 seconds of their gap but the only purpose they truly served at that late point of the race was as a carrot dangling ahead of a charging field.

A mixture of colours emerged at the head of the races as teams pushed around to set themselves up for a good sprint position in the last two kilometres. Tinkoff proved to be the strongest and most organized until Movistar, and surprisingly, Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise steamrolled passed them to take the lead into the last 800 metres.

Topsport’s Van Lerberghe started the sprint with roughly 300 metres to go and held out his top speed for the long stretch to the finish line. It was a good showing but ultimately served as a launching pad for Bennati to take the win and the first leader’s jersey for Tinkoff.

The racing will resume for stage 2, a 186.3km from Palomares del Rio to Cordoba on Thursday.

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