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Alexey Lutsenko is the name that will last forever in the Clásica de Jaén by being the first winner of the race, which was run for the first time on February 14… and the victory went to number 14. The Kazakh was, along with Tim Wellens, the great favorite to win, and both fulfilled the predictions: first the Astana rider and second the Belgian, who had no options. The also Belgian Vliegen completed the podium. An attack by Lutsenko at 44 kilometers was the one that cemented his victory. He showed the great strength of him when shortly after he was neutralized by the pursuers….and he changed the pace again, without looking back, in a sterrato stretch. There were already less than 30 km to go, and the Kazakh would march alone to the finish line in Úbeda.
In a race that until now did not present these characteristics in Spain, there were a total of 196 km, between Baeza and Úbeda, with 3,100 meters of accumulated difference in altitude and 40 kilometers of sterrato (designed by Pascual Momparler, RFEC coach), divided into seven sectors among the sea of olive trees so iconic in the area. After raining the night before, the weather respected for the dispute of the test, with 19 teams on the starting line of Baeza, six of them World Tour. At the beginning, many were those who tried to be seen, highlighting Kern Pharma with Igor Arrieta and Raúl García Pierna. It was on the fourth stretch of dirt that the race was dynamited, and the main favorites, led by Lutsenko and Wellens, took the initiative.
Wellens could not keep up with the Kazakh and was left in the chasing pack alongside Ferasse, Kämna, Swift and Vliegen. They understood each other well, and managed to give Lutsenko a Kazakh on the road… so that he later left again on the ground. She had one more gear, and that was his first day of competition this year. After a long preseason between Calpe and the height of Teide, Lutsenko (29 years old) He decided to start his 2022 sports car in a big way, also giving Astana their first win of the campaign.
In the middle of the race, he himself solved a mechanical problem without getting off the bike, and in the end he noticed the fatigue of having to step onto the ground in a change from dirt to cement. He had more than enough of an advantage for mishaps like that. He entered the cobbled section of Úbeda with a kidney blow and, once he got over the explosive ascent, he had time to prepare his jersey to celebrate the ‘golden olive’. A Clásica de Jaén that hopes to have made it to the calendar to stay.
Classification
1st A. Lutsenko (Astana) 4h 49:12
2nd T. Wellens (Lotto) at 53
3rd L. Vliegen (Intermaché) 57
4th L. Kämna (Bora) 1:16
5th C. Swift (Arkea) 1:28
13th J. Lastra (Caja Rural) 2:11
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