2015 Jayco Herald Sun Tour champion Cameron Meyer has finished fourth at Spanish one-day race Prueba Villafranca-Ordiziako Klasika today. The effort capped off a spirited performance by Orica-GreenEDGE who featured in three different moves throughout the day, despite starting with just seven of the permitted ten riders.

The Australian outfit also finished with former Italian champion Ivan Santaromita in fifth and 2015 Giro d’Italia pink jersey wearer Simon Clarke in tenth.

“In the final, the boys got together and they gave it a crack,” sport director Neil Stephens said. “You can’t complain too much about that result. It would have been nice to win this race again, but the numbers did come into play in the finish, we were slightly outnumbered, but we certainly gave it a good go with the boys we had.”

Classics specialist Jens Keukeleire rode himself into the day’s main move of eight riders. The group established a lead of 3:30minutes but a committed Movistar Team kept them within control from the front of the peloton. With 35km to go, the race was pulled back together.

“Jens was stuck in Brussels airport from 9am yesterday morning until 11pm last night, so he didn’t have a perfect preparation,” Stephens said. “But he got in the move right from the start.

“He did a good job. He knew it was a bit of a suicide mission but that it was a favourable position for his teammates, so he did the job.”

Shortly after, Danish neo-pro Magnus Cort broke off the front with two others for company. The trio spent just a short time ahead before they too were contained by Movistar.

Again Orica-GreenEDGE launched, this time with former under 23 time trial champion Damien Howson. Two riders bridged to Howson before he lost touch on the final climb.

Over the top and down into the finish, it was Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural-Seguros) who claimed the victory.