2019 Clásica de Almería (HC), Spain
34th edition: Sunday, February 17, 2019
Clásica de Almería podium history | 2018 edition | 2020 edition
Almería - Roquetas de Mar, 192.5 km
Pascal Ackermann just beats Marcel Kittel.
Weather at the finish city of Roquetas de Mar at 2:00 PM, local time: 17C (62F), sunny, with the wind from the east at 27 km/hr (17 mph). No rain is forecast.
The race: Here's the report from winner Pascal Ackermann's Bora-hansgrohe team.
After two days of racing at the Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia, another one-day race – the Clásica de Almeria – was today on BORA – hansgrohe’s menu. Right after the start, a group of seven riders formed the breakaway of the day. But this time, the escapees were brought back relatively early in the race, after just 90 km on the second climb of the day. On the long descent afterwards, the bunch did split into several groups, with BORA – hansgrohe managing to have four riders at the head of the race.
Approaching the last 30k Mitchelton – Scott controlled this main group, while BORA – hansgrohe was protecting their sprinter Pascal Ackermann. When the race entered the final laps in Almeria, the German squad took control, with Patrick Konrad starting the team’s lead-out, while Maciej Bodnar and Jempy Drucker delivered the German Champion perfectly on the last kilometer.
When M. Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) eased off a little, Ackermann took his chance to open the sprint. M. Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) came really close on the last 50m, but the German National Champion got his timing right and took the win, beating his fellow countryman to the line just by centimeters.
From the Finish Line:
“It was a great performance from the whole team. We started the race riding defensively. Patrick helped Pascal on the climbs to stay in contention, everything worked out perfectly. As the race split into some groups, we had four riders in the first one and in the finale, the guys did a great lead-out. It was an important victory for Pascal, I am happy that he was able to start this season as he finished the last one: successfully. I am now looking forward to the Volta ao Algarve.” – Christian Pömer, Sport Director
“It was a hard race, 200km and a very fast finish. Huge thanks to my teammates, they did an amazing job today. The whole team protected me from the beginning. In the mountains as well as on the flat sections and they finished it off with a great lead-out. It is a nice feeling to win that early in the season, that boosts my confidence for the upcoming goals like Algarve and some Belgium one-day races.” – Pascal Ackermann
Complete Results:
192.5 kilometers raced at an average speed of 43.102 km/hr
| 1 | ACKERMANN, Pascal | BORA-HANSGROHE | 4hr 27min 58sec |
| 2 | KITTEL, Marcel | KATUSHA-ALPECIN | s.t. |
| 3 | MEZGEC, Luka | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | s.t. |
| 4 | BARBERO, Carlos | MOVISTAR | s.t. |
| 5 | ROJAS, José | MOVISTAR | s.t. |
| 6 | BOUDAT, Thomas | DIRECT ENERGIE | s.t. |
| 7 | PLANCKAERT, Edward | SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE | s.t. |
| 8 | BOOM, Lars | ROOMPOT-CHARLES | s.t. |
| 9 | VAN GINNEKEN, Sjoerd | ROOMPOT-CHARLES | s.t. |
| 10 | VANSPEYBROUCK, Pieter | WANTY-GOBERT | s.t. |
| 11 | HERRADA, Jose | COFIDIS | s.t. |
| 12 | DRUCKER, Jean-Pierre | BORA-HANSGROHE | s.t. |
| 13 | TRENTIN, Matteo | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | s.t. |
| 14 | SANCHEZ, Luis L. | ASTANA | s.t. |
| 15 | MATHIS, Marco | COFIDIS | s.t. |
| 16 | RIKUNOV, Petr | GAZPROM-RUSVELO | s.t. |
| 17 | FERNANDEZ, Ruben | MOVISTAR | s.t. |
| 18 | LOPEZ-COZAR, Juan | EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY | s.t. |
| 19 | TIMMERMANS, Justin | ROOMPOT-CHARLES | s.t. |
| 20 | CATALDO, Dario | ASTANA | @ 7sec |
| 21 | HALLER, Marco | KATUSHA-ALPECIN | 11 |
| 22 | BODNAR, Maciej | BORA-HANSGROHE | 14 |
| 23 | SMITH, Dion | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | 18 |
| 24 | SPRENGERS, Thomas | SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE | 35 |
| 25 | VERONA, Carlos | MOVISTAR | 46 |
| 26 | KONRAD, Patrick | BORA-HANSGROHE | s.t. |
| 27 | BAUER, Jack | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | 48 |
| 28 | JOURNIAUX, Axel | DIRECT ENERGIE | 1:01 |
| 29 | AFFINI, Edoardo | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | s.t. |
| 30 | SPILAK, Simon | KATUSHA-ALPECIN | 1:26 |
| 31 | BOL, Jetse | BURGOS-BH | 8:42 |
| 32 | JUUL, Christopher | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | 2:34 |
| 33 | BARTHE, Cyril | EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY | 2:52 |
| 34 | FRAILE, Omar | ASTANA | s.t. |
| 35 | VALLS, Rafael | MOVISTAR | s.t. |
| 36 | KOCH, Jonas | CCC TEAM | s.t. |
| 37 | SCHILLINGER, Andreas | BORA-HANSGROHE | s.t. |
| 38 | WARLOP, Jordi | SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE | s.t. |
| 39 | VAN GENECHTEN, Jonas | VITAL CONCEPT-B&B HOTELS | s.t. |
| 40 | VLIEGEN, Loïc | WANTY-GOBERT | s.t. |
| 41 | OURSELIN, Paul | DIRECT ENERGIE | s.t. |
| 42 | VAN LERBERGHE, Bert | COFIDIS | s.t. |
| 43 | POLITT, Nils | KATUSHA-ALPECIN | s.t. |
| 44 | DOWSETT, Alex | KATUSHA-ALPECIN | s.t. |
| 45 | SANZ, Enrique | EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY | 4:03 |
| 46 | SCOTSON, Callum | MITCHELTON-SCOTT | 8:05 |