2018 Clásica de Almería (HC), Spain
33rd edition: Sunday, February 11, 2018
Clásica de Almería podium history | Race map and profile | 2017 edition | 2019 edition | Start list
Almería - Roquetas de Mar, 185.1 km
Caleb Ewan beats Danny van Poppel to win in Roquetas del Mar.
The race: Here's the story from winner Caleb Ewan's Mitchelton-Scott team.
23-year-old Australian Caleb Ewan sprinted to victory today in his first European race of the season, the Clasica de Almeria. After a strong start to the year with a stage win at the Tour Down Under, Ewan carried his form over to Europe, beating Danny van Popple (LottoNL-Jumbo) to take the victory in the 185kilometre one-day race.
Early breakaway
After just seven kilometres of racing, seven riders formed the main breakaway of the day and rode out to a maximum advantage of four minutes 30seconds. Mitchelton-SCOTT, with desires for a bunch sprint, headed to the front and used Roman Kreuziger in the opening stages to control the distance to the leaders with some welcomed help from LottoNL-Jumbo and Bora-Hansgrohe.
Re-united with the lead-out train
Once the breakaway was caught with 35kilometres to go, Mitchelton-SCOTT worked to follow the attacks and keep things together ahead of the sprint. Finally re-united with his lead-out train, Ewan was able to avoid crashes in the final and navigate through the peloton before launching from the wheel of Luka Mezgec to the victory.
Caleb Ewan - 1st Clasica de Almeria
“It’s really good to hit the ground running in my first European race and it was good to have the full lead-out squad behind me today. We were all a bit lost after getting caught behind a crash but once we all got back together and started the lead-out, no-one came round us and I am happy I was able to finish it off.
“I haven’t raced with these lead-out guys since the Tour of Britain so that’s a fair chunk of time away. It is good to get the confidence back in working together and that nothing has really changed, that is what we needed going into these next big races.
“I felt pretty tired during the day because we did five hours training yesterday, so I didn’t feel great but in the final when the adrenalin kicks in I felt alright and overall it was a good day.”
Matt White - Head Sport Director
“It isn’t the biggest race we do on the calendar but you still have to win them, and the boys did a great job of controlling the race and we nailed it in the final.
“The boys had the breakaway under control the whole time, Kreuziger and Chris Juul-Jensen rode all day and then once it came back it got quite stressful and windy as we entered the finishing circuits. Jack Bauer came to the front to keep the guys in good position and then Matteo Trentin had to do a big effort to bring us back up to the front after the boys caught caught out a little bit behind a crash.
“Today was a really good practice for the guys, Roger Kluge, Mezgec and Bauer will all be with racing together with Caleb in Abu Dhabi. It is the first time the quartet has worked together so we are starting to go through the motions now getting ready for the races coming up.
“It has also been a big weekend for these guys, when you look at the work Kreuziger, Juul-Jensen and Trentin have done these past two days it has been 400kilometres or more of racing and it is only going to benefit them and help them get to top condition.”
Complete Results:
185.1 kilometers raced at an average speed of 40.317 km/hr
| 1 | EWAN, Caleb | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | 4hr 35min 28sec |
| 2 | VAN POPPEL, Danny | LOTTO NL-JUMBO | s.t. |
| 3 | DUPONT, Timothy | WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT | s.t. |
| 4 | HOFSTETTER, Hugo | COFIDIS | s.t. |
| 5 | SENECHAL, Florian | QUICK-STEP FLOORS | s.t. |
| 6 | KUMP, Marko | CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE | s.t. |
| 7 | SCHMIDT, Mads Würtz | KATUSHA-ALPECIN | s.t. |
| 8 | BARBERO, Carlos | MOVISTAR | s.t. |
| 9 | PLANCKAERT, Edward | SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOIS | s.t. |
| 10 | ABERASTURI, Jon | EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY-MURIAS | s.t. |
| 11 | BOUDAT, Thomas | DIRECT ENERGIE | s.t. |
| 12 | SCHWARZMANN, Michael | BORA-HANSGROHE | s.t. |
| 13 | VERMELTFOORT, Coen | ROOMPOT-NEDERLANDSE LOTERIJ | s.t. |
| 14 | MAS, Luis G. | CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA | s.t. |
| 15 | HOULE, Hugo | ASTANA | s.t. |
| 16 | KRUOPIS, Aidis | VERANDA'S WILLEMS-CRELAN | s.t. |
| 17 | GILBERT, Philippe | QUICK-STEP FLOORS | s.t. |
| 18 | ROJAS, José | MOVISTAR | s.t. |
| 19 | SANCHEZ, Luis León | ASTANA | s.t. |
| 20 | GRADEK, Kamil | CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE | s.t. |
| 21 | EZQUERRA, Jesus | BURGOS-BH | s.t. |
| 22 | ANDERSON, Ryan | RALLY CYCLING | s.t. |
| 23 | SAEZ, Hector | EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY-MURIAS | s.t. |
| 24 | AMADOR, Andrey | MOVISTAR | s.t. |
| 25 | MEZGEC, Luka | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | s.t. |
| 26 | LASTRA, Jonathan | CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA | s.t. |
| 27 | BRAVO, Garikoitz | EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY-MURIAS | @ 7sec |
| 28 | OFFREDO, Yoann | WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT | s.t. |
| 29 | KOCH, Jonas | CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE | s.t. |
| 30 | V. KEIRSBULCK, Guillaume | WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT | s.t. |
| 31 | VAN DER LIJKE, Nick | ROOMPOT-NEDERLANDSE LOTERIJ | s.t. |
| 32 | VAN HOECKE, Gijs | LOTTO NL-JUMBO | s.t. |
| 33 | GOOLAERTS, Michael | VERANDA'S WILLEMS-CRELAN | 18 |
| 34 | SELIG, Rüdiger | BORA-HANSGROHE | 21 |
| 35 | KLUGE, Roger | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | s.t. |
| 36 | TULIK, Angelo | DIRECT ENERGIE | 25 |
| 37 | CLEMENT, Stef | LOTTO NL-JUMBO | 29 |
| 38 | VALGREN, Michael | ASTANA | 33 |
| 39 | VAN STAEYEN, Michaël | COFIDIS | s.t. |
| 40 | PÖSTLBERGER, Lukas | BORA-HANSGROHE | 36 |
| 41 | BAUER, Jack | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | s.t. |
| 42 | TRENTIN, Matteo | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | s.t. |
| 43 | PETIT, Adrien | DIRECT ENERGIE | s.t. |
| 44 | SALAS, Ibai | BURGOS-BH | 46 |
| 45 | CUBERO, Jorge | BURGOS-BH | s.t. |
| 46 | KOBERNYAK, Evgenii | GAZPROM-RUSVELO | s.t. |
| 47 | GOIKOETXEA, Peio | TEAM EUSKADI | s.t. |
| 48 | LEYSEN, Senne | VERANDA'S WILLEMS-CRELAN | s.t. |
| 49 | STYBAR, Zdenek | QUICK-STEP FLOORS | s.t. |
| 50 | MENTEN, Milan | SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOIS | s.t. |
| 51 | SMIT, Willem Jakobus | KATUSHA-ALPECIN | s.t. |
| 52 | BIERMANS, Jenthe | KATUSHA-ALPECIN | s.t. |
| 53 | OWSIAN, Lukasz | CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE | s.t. |
| 54 | CHERNETSKI, Sergei | ASTANA | s.t. |
| 55 | VAN HECKE, Preben | SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOIS | s.t. |
| 56 | MAIKIN, Roman | GAZPROM-RUSVELO | s.t. |
| 57 | ERVITI, Imanol | MOVISTAR | s.t. |
| 58 | PFINGSTEN, Christoph | BORA-HANSGROHE | s.t. |
| 59 | INSAUSTI, Jon Ander | TEAM EUSKADI | s.t. |
| 60 | BENEDETTI, Cesare | BORA-HANSGROHE | s.t. |
| 61 | SHILOV, Sergei | GAZPROM-RUSVELO | s.t. |
| 62 | KOZONTCHUK, Dmitriii | GAZPROM-RUSVELO | s.t. |
| 63 | TRATNIK, Jan | CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE | s.t. |
| 64 | JUNGELS, Bob | QUICK-STEP FLOORS | s.t. |
| 65 | ZABALA, Josu | CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA | s.t. |
| 66 | MAS, Enric | QUICK-STEP FLOORS | s.t. |
| 67 | AMEZQUETA, Julen | CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA | s.t. |
| 68 | KOZHATAYEV, Bakhtiyar | ASTANA | s.t. |
| 69 | SPILAK, Simon | KATUSHA-ALPECIN | s.t. |
| 70 | VAN SCHIP, Jan Willem | ROOMPOT-NEDERLANDSE LOTERIJ | s.t. |
| 71 | KRUIJSWIJK, Steven | LOTTO NL-JUMBO | s.t. |
| 72 | GATTO, Oscar | ASTANA | s.t. |
| 73 | COUSIN, Jerome | DIRECT ENERGIE | s.t. |
| 74 | MURPHY, Kyle | RALLY CYCLING | s.t. |
| 75 | SEPULVEDA, Eduardo | MOVISTAR | 1:10 |
| 76 | SCHILLINGER, Andreas | BORA-HANSGROHE | 1:37 |
| 77 | CLAEYS, Dimitri | COFIDIS | s.t. |
| 78 | DE GREEF, Robbert | ROOMPOT-NEDERLANDSE LOTERIJ | s.t. |
| 79 | TORRES, Pablo | BURGOS-BH | 1:52 |
| 80 | SOLER, Marc | MOVISTAR | s.t. |
| 81 | MARTIN, Tony | KATUSHA-ALPECIN | 1:57 |
| 82 | SERRY, Pieter | QUICK-STEP FLOORS | 2:00 |
| 83 | DE TIER, Floris | LOTTO NL-JUMBO | 2:23 |
| 84 | RIESEBEEK, Oscar | ROOMPOT-NEDERLANDSE LOTERIJ | s.t. |
| 85 | POWLESS, Neilson | LOTTO NL-JUMBO | s.t. |
| 86 | CHERKASOV, Nikolai | GAZPROM-RUSVELO | s.t. |
| 87 | VALLS, Rafael | MOVISTAR | s.t. |
| 88 | JOYCE, Colin | RALLY CYCLING | s.t. |
| 89 | DEVRIENDT, Tom | WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT | 3:06 |
| 90 | SELLIER, Simon | DIRECT ENERGIE | s.t. |
| 91 | GARCIA, Ricardo | TEAM EUSKADI | 3:21 |
| 92 | AZURMENDI, Ibai | TEAM EUSKADI | s.t. |
| 93 | RICKAERT, Jonas | SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOIS | 3:28 |
| 94 | STEELS, Stijn | VERANDA'S WILLEMS-CRELAN | s.t. |
| 95 | GENE, Yohann | DIRECT ENERGIE | s.t. |
| 96 | ALLEGAERT, Piet | SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOIS | 3:40 |
| 97 | JUUL JENSEN, Christopher | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | 4:04 |
| 98 | VANSPEYBROUCK, Pieter | WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT | s.t. |
| 99 | PRADES, Eduard | EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY-MURIAS | 4:26 |
| 100 | SANZ, Enrique | EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY-MURIAS | s.t. |
| 101 | MITRI, James | BURGOS-BH | s.t. |
| 102 | KREUZIGER, Roman | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | s.t. |
| 103 | DE BONDT, Dries | VERANDA'S WILLEMS-CRELAN | s.t. |
| 104 | FUGLSANG, Jakob | ASTANA | s.t. |
| 105 | MOREIRA, Mauricio J. | CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA | s.t. |
| 106 | FABBRO, Matteo | KATUSHA-ALPECIN | s.t. |
| 107 | BAUGNIES, Jérôme | WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT | s.t. |
| 108 | BELKOV, Maxim | KATUSHA-ALPECIN | s.t. |
| 109 | HERRADA, Jose | COFIDIS | s.t. |
| 110 | SOTO, Nelson A. | CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA | s.t. |
| 111 | SAMITIER, Sergio | EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY-MURIAS | s.t. |
| 112 | FERNANDEZ, Egoitz | TEAM EUSKADI | s.t. |
| 113 | ORONTE, Emerson | RALLY CYCLING | s.t. |
| 114 | ELLSAY, Nigel | RALLY CYCLING | s.t. |
| 115 | BIZKARRA, Mikel | EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY-MURIAS | s.t. |
| 116 | MINNAARD, Marco | WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT | s.t. |
| 117 | VAN EMPEL, Etienne | ROOMPOT-NEDERLANDSE LOTERIJ | s.t. |
| 118 | FOLIFOROV, Alexander | GAZPROM-RUSVELO | s.t. |
| 119 | SHALUNOV, Evgenii | GAZPROM-RUSVELO | s.t. |
| 120 | MENDES, José | BURGOS-BH | s.t. |
| 121 | PELUCCHI, Matteo | BORA-HANSGROHE | s.t. |
| 122 | NOPPE, Christophe | SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOIS | s.t. |
| 123 | VAN GOMPEL, Mathias | SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOIS | 4:49 |
| 124 | RODRIGUEZ, Cristian | CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA | 5:25 |
| 125 | ALONSO, Mikel | TEAM EUSKADI | s.t. |
| 126 | BUADES FERRIOL, Marc | TEAM EUSKADI | s.t. |
| 127 | RUBIO, Diego | BURGOS-BH | s.t. |
| 128 | BONNAFOND, Guillaume | COFIDIS | 7:35 |
| 129 | BOUWMAN, Koen | LOTTO NL-JUMBO | 10:42 |
2018 Clásica de Almería map and profile
Race map
Race profile
2017 Clásica de Almería start list with back numbers, February 10, 2018:
| MITCHELTON-SCOTT | |
| 1 | EWAN Caleb |
| 2 | MEZGEC Luka |
| 3 | BAUER Jack |
| 4 | JUUL JENSEN Christopher |
| 5 | KLUGE Roger |
| 6 | KREUZIGER Roman |
| 7 | TRENTIN Matteo |
| BORA-HANSGROHE | |
| 11 | BENEDETTI Cesare |
| 12 | PELUCCHI Matteo |
| 13 | PFINGSTEN Christoph |
| 14 | POSTLBERGER Lukas |
| 15 | SCHILLINGER Andreas |
| 16 | SCHWARZMANN Michael |
| 17 | SELIG Rüdiger |
| MOVISTAR | |
| 21 | BARBERO Carlos |
| 22 | AMADOR Andrey |
| 23 | ERVITI Imanol |
| 24 | SOLER Marc |
| 25 | ROJAS Jose Joaquin |
| 26 | SEPULVEDA Eduardo |
| 27 | VALLS Rafael |
| SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE | |
| 31 | MENTEN Milan |
| 32 | NOPPE Christophe |
| 33 | PLANCKAERT Edward |
| 34 | RICKAERT Jonas |
| 35 | ALLEGAERT Piet |
| 36 | VAN GOMPEL Matthias |
| 37 | VAN HECKE Preben |
| KATUSHA-ALPECIN | |
| 41 | BIERMANS Jenthe |
| 42 | FABBRO Matteo |
| 43 | BELKOV Maxim |
| 44 | MARTIN Tony |
| 45 | SMIT Willie |
| 46 | SPILAK Simon |
| 47 | WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads |
| CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE | |
| 52 | GRADEK Kamil |
| 53 | KOCH Jonas |
| 54 | KUMP Marko |
| 55 | OWSIAN Lukasz |
| 56 | SCHLEGEL Michal |
| 57 | TRATNIK Jan |
| BURGOS BH | |
| 61 | RUBIO Diego |
| 62 | PIMENTA José Joao |
| 63 | EZQUERRA Jesús |
| 64 | SALAS Ibai |
| 65 | CUBERO Jorge |
| 66 | MITRI James |
| 67 | TORRES Pablo |
| ROOMPOT-NEDERLANDSE LOTERIJ | |
| 71 | VAN DER LIJKE Nick |
| 72 | ARIESEN Tim |
| 73 | DE GREEF Robbert |
| 74 | VAN EMPEL Etienne |
| 75 | RIESEBEEK Oscar |
| 76 | VAN SCHIP Jan Willem |
| 77 | VERMELTFOORT Coen |
| COFIDIS | |
| 81 | HOFSTETTER Hugo |
| 82 | BONNAFOND Guillaume |
| 83 | CLAEYS Dimitri |
| 84 | HERRADA José |
| 87 | VAN STAEYEN Michael |
| WANTY–GROUPE GOBERT | |
| 91 | DUPONT Timothy |
| 92 | MINNAARD Marco |
| 93 | BAUGNIES Jérôme |
| 94 | DEVRIENDT Tom |
| 95 | OFFREDO Yoann |
| 96 | VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume |
| 97 | VANSPEYBROUCK Pieter |
| GAZPROM-RUSVELO | |
| 101 | SHILOV Sergey |
| 102 | CHERKASOV Nikolay |
| 103 | KOBERNYAK Evgeny |
| 104 | KOZONTCHUK Dmitriy |
| 105 | MAIKIN Roman |
| 106 | FOLIFOROV Alexander |
| 107 | SHALUNOV Evgeny |
| DIRECT ENERGIE | |
| 111 | BOUDAT Thomas |
| 112 | COUSIN Jerome |
| 113 | GENE Yohann |
| 114 | JOURNIAUX Axel |
| 115 | PETIT Adrien |
| 116 | SELLIER Simon |
| 117 | TULIK Angelo |
| RALLY CYCLING | |
| 121 | ANDERSON Ryan |
| 122 | BRITTON Rob |
| 123 | DAL-CIN Matteo |
| 124 | ELLSAY Nigel |
| 125 | MURPHY Kyle |
| 126 | JOYCE Colin |
| 127 | ORONTE Emerson |
| CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA | |
| 131 | RODRÍGUEZ Cristian |
| 132 | SOTO Nelson Andres |
| 133 | MAS BONET Luis |
| 134 | LASTRA Jonathan |
| 135 | AMEZQUETA Julen |
| 136 | ZABALA Josu |
| 137 | MOREIRA Mauricio |
| ASTANA | |
| 141 | FUGLSANG Jakob |
| 142 | CHERNETSKY Sergey |
| 143 | GATTO Oscar |
| 144 | HOULE Hugo |
| 145 | KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar |
| 146 | SANCHEZ GIL Luis Leon |
| 147 | VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael |
| TEAM EUSKADI | |
| 151 | BUADES Marc |
| 152 | AZURMENDI Ibai |
| 153 | FERNÁNDEZ Egoitz |
| 154 | GARCIA Ricardo |
| 155 | INSAUSTI Jon Ander |
| 156 | ALONSO Mikel |
| 157 | GOIKOETXEA Peio |
| LOTTO NL-JUMBO | |
| 161 | BOUWMAN Koen |
| 162 | CLEMENT Stef |
| 163 | VAN HOECKE Gijs |
| 164 | KRUIJSWIJK Steven |
| 165 | VAN POPPEL Danny |
| 166 | POWLESS Neilson |
| 167 | DE TIER Floris |
| QUICK-STEP FLOORS | |
| 171 | SENECHAL Florian |
| 172 | GILBERT Philippe |
| 173 | JUNGELS Bob |
| 174 | MAS NICOLAU Enric |
| 175 | SERRY Pieter |
| 176 | STYBAR Zdenek |
| EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY-MURIAS | |
| 181 | SAMITIER Sergio |
| 182 | BIZKARRA Mikel |
| 183 | ABERASTURI Jon |
| 184 | PRADES Eduard |
| 185 | SÁEZ Hector |
| 186 | SANZ Enrique |
| 187 | BRAVO Garikoitz |
| VERANDA'S WILLEMS-CRELAN | |
| 191 | KRUOPIS Aidis |
| 192 | GOOLAERTS Michael |
| 193 | LEYSEN Senne |
| 194 | STEELS Stijn |
| 195 | DE BONDT Dries |
| 196 | TANNER David |