Michael Matthews got an important confidence boost for next week’s Vuelta al Pais Vasco when he claimed his second win and the third win in a row for his Orica-GreenEDGE team at the Vuelta a la Rioja. After his team had controlled the race all day, he beat Sergey Shilov (Russia) in a photo finish while Carlos Barbero (Caja Rural) completed the podium.

It has been a great start to the year for Michael Matthews but since he cracked on the penultimate stage of Paris-Nice, he fortunes have changed. He crashed out of Milan-Sanremo, his first big goal of the year, and yesterday he came up short at the GP Miguel Indurain.

The recent incidents meant that Matthews was in search of a boost of confidence before the Amstel Gold Race which is his next big goal. Like it happened two years ago, he got that boost at the Vuelta a la Rioja which his Orica-GreenEDGE team has dominated in the last few years. After Matthews won the race in 2014, Caleb Ewan and Daryl Impey made it a 1-2 in 2015 and today Matthews completed the hat-trick for the team by winning the bunch sprint in a photo finish.

The 56th edition of the Vuelta a la Rioja was held on a 157.4km distance around the city of Logrono. It consisted of a big circuit on the western outskirts of the city in rolling terrain, with the first half being mostly uphill until the riders reached the top of the category3 Alto de la de Gollada (2.8km, 3.6%). From there it was mainly descending as the riders turned around and headed back towards the finish, with a small climb (600m, 4%) coming 41.9km from the finish. The climbing ended a few kilometres later and then a descent led to the finale which was almost completely flat.

It was a sunny and calm day in Spain when the riders gathered in Logrono and all riders were present as they rolled out for their neutral ride. With an intermediate sprint coming after just 2.2km of racing, it was no surprise that the pace was fast straight from the gun and it was Diego Milan (Inteja) who led Francisco Cantero (Louletano) and Jorge Cubero (Burgos) across the line.

There were lots of attacks in the hectic opening phase and it was Diego Rubio (Caja Rural) who formed the promising move. He stayed clear for several kilometres but was brought back after 17km of fast racing.

The right break was formed at the 24km mark when Antonio Molina (Caja Rural), Pablo Torres (Burgos), Martijn Verschoor (Novo Nordisk), Fernando Grijalba (Inteja) and Dion Smith (ONE) took off. Unsurprisingly, Orica-GreenEDGE hit the front immediately and they had only allowed the gap to go out to 1.15 after 30km of racing.

Orica-GreenEDGE in control

As they approached the second sprint, the gap had gone out to 2.20 and it was 2.40 at the 43km mark, with Orica-GreenEDGE setting the pace. With an average speed of 40.7km/h in the first hour, it was a relatively calm start to the race

Christian Meier was doing a lot of work in the peloton, keeping the gap at 2.40 after 65km of racing. Rain started to fall as they headed into the hills at the midpoint where Orica-GreenEDGE loosened the grip slightly and when they hit the first of the two categorized climbs, the gap had gone out to 3.11. Molina led Torres and Verschoor to the top while the peloton followed 3.40 later.

After the climb, the peloton increased the pace significantly and the gap quickly dropped to 2.10. With 45km to go, there was only 1.35 left of the advantage as Meier, King Lok Cheung and Mathew Hayman continued to chase for Orica-GreenEDGE.

The break split up as Smith, Molina and Grijalba distanced their companions and they entered the final 30km with an advantage that had gone out to 2.30. However, the peloton reacted strongly and 20 minutes later, they only had 45 seconds left.

As they entered Logrono, the gap was only 10 seconds and with 9km to go, it was all back together for the expected sprint. Orica-GreenEDGE tried to control things but it was Caja Rural and Movistar battling for position on the front as they entered the final 2km.

However, those two teams both came up short and it came down to a photo finish between Michael Matthews and Sergey Shilov. It took some time to get the confirmation but Matthews was finally declared the winner of the race, with Carlos Barbero completing the podium.

After a weekend of one-day racing, the busy week of racing in Spain will continue tomorrow when the Vuelta al Pais Vasco kicks off after all the WorldTour teams have arrived for the much hillier race.