After successful outings in Malaysia and Australia, neo-pro Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEDGE) proved that he can also win in Europe when he won the bunch sprint in the Spanish one-day race Vuelta a la Rioja. After Orica-GreenEDGE had dominated the finale, the Australian was clearly the fastest and lead-out man Daryl Impey even made it a 1-2 for the Australian team.

After a great start that included two wins in the Herald Sun Tour and two victories in the Tour de Langkawi, Caleb Ewan was determined to prove himself as a top sprinter when he lined up for the Volta a Catalunya. However, that race proved to be a tough challenge for the young neo-pro who suffered a lot before he abandoned the race on stage 3.

However, Orica-GreenEDGE had not lost confidence in their sprinter and he was the clear captain when they lined up for today’s Vuelta a la Rioja. Defending champion Michael Matthews had decided to skip the race and it was left to Ewan to make sure that the team defended their title.

The Spanish race usually comes down to a bunch sprint but Orica-GreenEDGE decided to use an offensive strategy as they had both Christian Meier and Michael Albasini in a very strong group that escaped after a fast start of the race. This allowed them to save energy in the peloton and so they were ready to strike when the break was caught.

First they had to bring back a very strong Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) who made his usual solo move in these sprint races but with less than 30km to go, the Spanish star was back. The peloton had now reached the flat 5.7km finishing circuit in Logrono and Orica-GreenEDGE were ready to put their sprinter into position.

The Australian team took control of the peloton and set a high speed that made it impossible for anyone to attack. They still had enough left in the tank to give Ewan a perfect lead-out and the young Australian had no trouble taking the sprint win. His lead-out man Dayl Impey was even strong enough to take second while Andrea Palini (Skydive) were their nearest challenger in third.

With the Vuelta a la Rioja done and dusted, the Spanish racing scene moves to the Basque Country for the Vuelta al Pais Vasco which starts tomorrow. Ewan will take a break from racing and leave it to his teammate Matthews to defend Orica-GreenEDGE’s sprinting ambitions in the WorldTour race.

A mixed course

The 55th Vuelta a la Rioja was held on a 173.7km course that started and finished in Logrono. After a flat first part, the riders reached the hilly mid zone where they tackled two category 3 climbs before they again reached flat roads for the final part. The riders ended the race by doing 5 laps of a flat 5.7km circuit in the finishing city where a bunch sprint was expected.

The riders took the start very early in Spain and they had perfect conditions for their race as the sun was shining and the temperature was a pleasant 12 degrees. As it is often the case in Spanish race, the race got off to a very fast start with lots of attacks.

Lots of attacks

No one had gone clear when the riders reached the first intermediate sprint after just 3.3km of racing and here Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural) led Juan Alberto Cueto (Inteja) and Alberto Gallego (Radio Popular) across the line.  The attacking continued and at the 15km mark, things were still together.

Winner Anacona (Movistar) managed to get a 10-second advantage but he was quickly brought back. Moments later, a dangerous situation occurred when 26 riders got a gap of 10 seconds but the peloton reacted quickly to neutralize the move.

A strong break goes clear

Jesus Herrada (Movistar) was the next to try but he had no luck either. After 33km of racing, however, the elastic snapped when Ruben Fernandez (Movistar), Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEDGE), Fernando Grijalba, Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural), David Belda (Burgos) and Alvaro Cuadros (AWT) got clear.

Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Marc Soler (Movistar) tried to join the move and after they had initially lost a bit of ground, they made the junction at the 40km mark. At this point, the peloton was 40 seconds behind but as the major teams were all represented, they were reluctant to let the group go clear and at the 46km mark, they had reduced the gap to 25 seconds due to the hard work by the Muria Taldea team.

The break splits up

Belda led Meier, Fernandez and Madrazo over the top of the first climb where they had extended their advantage to 40 seconds. At this point, they had distanced Cuadros who had been caught by the peloton and Grijalba who had been picked up by Benat Txoperena (Murias Taldea).

At the 60km mark, Txoperena and Grijalbas had lost 45 seconds while the peloton was 20 seconds further adrift. Novo Nordisk had now taken control and were leading the chase.

The break is caught

Going through the feed zone, the chasers had been brought back and the gap was 1.20. When Meier led Belda, Madrazo and Albasini over the top of the second climb, they had even increased their advantage to 1.45 and at the 100km mark, it was even 2.14.

The peloton led by Caja Rural reacted strongly on an uncategorized climb and at the top, they had reduced their deficit to 1.35. While Belda started to suffer in the front group, the came down to just 35 seconds at the 125km mark. Soler was the first to get swallowed up and after Murias Taldea had again taken over, the break was caught less than 5km later.

Valverde makes his move

This opened the doors for new attacks and it was Alejandro Valverde (Movista) and Ivan Garcia (AWT) who were the next to get clear. They managed to build an advantage of 30 seconds before Valverde dropped his companion.

At the 145km mark, he was 37 seconds ahead and he was the first to cross the finish line to win the final intermediate sprint ahead of Madrazo, Eduard Parades (Caja Rural). At this point he was just 5 seconds ahead and at the 153km mark, it was all back together. Orica-GreenEDGE had now taken control and they set the pace for the laps on the finishing circuit before Ewan sprinted to the win.