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2016 Vuelta Ciclista a Rioja (1.1), Spain

56th edition: Sunday, April 3, 2016

Vuelta Ciclista a Rioja podium history | 2015 edition | 2017 edition | Course map and profile

Logroño - Logroño, 157.4 km

Michael Matthews

Michael Matthews drives for the finish

The Race: The story as told by race winner Michael Matthews' Orica-GreenEdge team.

Tour of Flanders, the Inside Story

2016 Paris-Nice green jersey champion Michael Matthews has won the 56th Vuelta Ciclista a la Rioja today, taking the sprint by a whisker after ORICA-GreenEDGE brought back the breakaway in the final ten kilometres of the race.

The third victory in three years for ORICA-GreenEDGE at the Spanish race and the second for Matthews (after his win in 2014) was made all the more sweeter by the manner in which the team controlled the race.

Taking responsibility at the front of the peloton for most of the day, Matthews praised the tireless work of his teammates. “The team were amazing throughout the race today,” said Matthews. “They did a perfect job controlling things and I’m happy I was able to finish it off. I started my sprint from around 200metres. It was difficult because I got pushed into the barriers and had to go around, luckily I had enough speed to hold on.

“We were the only team on the front from start to finish. The boys were really strong and in the end the sprint was very close, I didn’t know if I had won when we crossed the line. After the crash in San-Remo its really good to come here and win, to move on.”

Sport director Dave McPartland was happy the team bounced back so well after a frustrating day at the GP Miguel Indurain on Saturday. “Super happy with the win, the whole team were fantastic today,” said McPartland. “Michael (Matthews) did really well to finish it off in the sprint after Cheung (King-Lok) and Mathew (Hayman) did a lot of good work bringing back the breakaway.”

“We had a race plan that we wanted to stick to and a big part of that was dependent on limiting the advantage of the breakaway. We spoke about the importance of our positioning after missing out in the finale of yesterday’s race, it was great to see the boys put that behind them today.”

How it happened: The race began uneventfully, one or two tentative attempts to form the breakaway were quickly subdued until a group of five riders finally began to gain time on the peloton stretching their advantage to just over three minutes after 25 kilometres.

With none of the favourites represented among the leaders, the racing continued steadily for the next 50 kilometres. ORICA-GreenEDGE, positioned attentively at the front of the main bunch, started to reduce the lead of the front group.

For the next 60 kilometres the advantage of the leaders continued to fall thanks to the continued efforts of ORICA-GreenEDGE on the front of the peloton, with Christian Meier, King Lok and Hayman all taking long turns, keeping the pressure firmly on the breakaway.

Approaching the finishing circuit in Logrono with ten kilometres to go, the leaders were finally caught. The race was shaping up for the sprint with the other teams beginning to get involved and jostle for position at the front of peloton. ORICA-GreenEDGE, Movistar and Caja-Rural were the three prominent contenders going into the final kilometre.

Michael Albasini was the last man in the line for Matthews and he dropped him off perfectly for the sprint. Taking off with 200metres to go into a block head wind Matthews still had work to do, skilfully managing to stay upright after a brush with the barriers and crossing the line half a wheel ahead of Sergey-Shilov (Russia).

The next race for ORICA-GreenEDGE is the Vuelta Ciclista Pais Vasco starting on Monday 4th of April.

Complete Results:

157.4 kilometers raced at an average speed of 41.543 km/hr

1 MATTHEWS, Michael ORICA GreenEDGE 3hr 47min 20sec
2 SHILOV, Sergei SEL. RUSIA s.t.
3 BARBERO, Carlos CAJA RURAL s.t.
4 CALEIRA, Samuel W52-FC PORTO s.t.
5 FREITAS, Daniel W52-FC PORTO s.t.
6 BOGDANOVICS,  Maris RIETUMU-DELFIN s.t.
7 BARKER, Yanto ONE PRO CYCLING s.t.
8 DE MATEOS, Vicente LOULETANO s.t.
9 ZHURAVLEV, Vadim SEL. RUSIA s.t.
10 PEREZ, Juan W52-FC PORTO s.t.
11 BRAVO, Garikoitz EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY s.t.
12 FONTE, César RADIO  POPULAR-BOAVISTA s.t.
13 PERON, Andrea TEAM NOVO NORDISK s.t.
14 MILAN, Diego INTEJA-MMR s.t.
15 BAGÜES, Aritz EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY s.t.
16 JIMENEZ, Carlos RADIO  POPULAR-BOAVISTA s.t.
17 BOHORQUEZ,  Hernando MANZANA POSTOBON s.t.
18 CUBERO, Jorge BURGOS BH s.t.
19 LOPEZ, Daniel BURGOS BH s.t.
20 IRISARRI, Jon SEL. ESPAÑOLA s.t.
21 BECIS, Armands RIETUMU-DELFIN s.t.
22 GOIKOETXEA, Peio MANZANA POSTOBON s.t.
23 GAVARS, Eriks Toms RIETUMU-DELFIN s.t.
24 RUBIO, Diego CAJA RURAL s.t.
25 TERUEL, Eloy LOULETANO s.t.
26 SEVILLA, Diego P. SEL. ESPAÑOLA s.t.
27 SAMOLENKOV,  Artem SEL. RUSIA s.t.
28 REIS, Rafael W52-FC PORTO s.t.
29 LIZARRALDE, Eneko EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY s.t.
30 DOMAGALSKI, Karol ONE PRO CYCLING s.t.
31 CAMACHO, Juan SEL. ESPAÑOLA s.t.
32 PRUUS, Peeter RIETUMU-DELFIN s.t.
33 SAN SEBASTIAN, Xabier SEL. ESPAÑOLA s.t.
34 SALAS, Ibai BURGOS BH s.t.
35 DE SEGOVIA, Jose LOULETANO s.t.
36 CANTERO, Fco. Javier LOULETANO s.t.
37 RIUTORT, Juan carlos BURGOS BH s.t.
38 FIGUEIREDO,  Frederico RADIO  POPULAR-BOAVISTA s.t.
39 COSTA, Axel MASSI-KUWAIT s.t.
40 RODRIGUES, Joao W52-FC PORTO s.t.
41 VDOVIN, Sergey SEL. RUSIA s.t.
42 OCHOA, Javier SEL. ESPAÑOLA s.t.
43 FERREIRA, Ricardo RADIO  POPULAR-BOAVISTA s.t.
44 VILLEGAS, Juan MANZANA POSTOBON s.t.
45 NEUSTROEV, Vasilii SEL. RUSIA s.t.
46 WILLIAMS, Peter ONE PRO CYCLING s.t.
47 DE ALMEIDA, Guillaume RADIO  POPULAR-BOAVISTA s.t.
48 KAMSTRA, Brian TEAM NOVO NORDISK s.t.
49 CASENY, Ruben MASSI-KUWAIT s.t.
50 ROBREDO, Alvaro BURGOS BH s.t.
51 SUESCA, Marco T. MANZANA POSTOBON s.t.
52 RODRIGUES, David RADIO  POPULAR-BOAVISTA s.t.
53 MEIER, Christian ORICA GreenEDGE s.t.
54 ESTEVEZ, Imanol EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY s.t.
55 ALARCON, Raul W52-FC PORTO s.t.
56 GUERRERO, Pablo RADIO  POPULAR-BOAVISTA @ 10sec
57 SUTHERLAND, Rory MOVISTAR TEAM s.t.
58 GALARRETA, David RIETUMU-DELFIN s.t.
59 ANACONA, Winner MOVISTAR TEAM s.t.
60 ALBASINI, Michael ORICA GreenEDGE 13
61 DE MESMAEKER, Kevin TEAM NOVO NORDISK s.t.
62 VINHAS, Rui W52-FC PORTO s.t.
63 ISIDORO, Micael LOULETANO s.t.
64 LOZANO, David TEAM NOVO NORDISK s.t.
65 ZABALA, Josu SEL. ESPAÑOLA s.t.
66 SIERRA, Yecid A. MANZANA POSTOBON s.t.
67 RODRIGUEZ, Cristian SEL. ESPAÑOLA s.t.
68 VDOVIN, Alexander SEL. RUSIA s.t.
69 CLANCY, Stephen TEAM NOVO NORDISK s.t.
70 ORAM, James ONE PRO CYCLING s.t.
71 VERSCHOOR,  Martijn TEAM NOVO NORDISK s.t.
72 PLANET, Charles TEAM NOVO NORDISK s.t.
73 NUÑO, Israel INTEJA-MMR s.t.
74 HARPER, George ONE PRO CYCLING s.t.
75 TXOPERENA, Benat EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY s.t.
76 MAS, Luis CAJA RURAL s.t.
77 ARANBURU, Alex EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY s.t.
78 MORENO, Javier MOVISTAR TEAM s.t.
79 MOLINA, Antonio CAJA RURAL s.t.
80 SARMI9ENTO, Johnatan MASSI-KUWAIT s.t.
81 TORRES, Pablo BURGOS BH s.t.
82 BETANCUR, Carlos A. MOVISTAR TEAM s.t.
83 PLAZA, Ruben ORICA GreenEDGE s.t.
84 ARAMENDIA, Fco. Javier CAJA RURAL s.t.
85 PEDRERO, Antonio MOVISTAR TEAM s.t.
86 MARTIN, Victor BURGOS BH s.t.
87 TIGRINE, Mehdi MASSI-KUWAIT s.t.
88 DEL PINO, Jesus BURGOS BH s.t.
89 EBSEN, John ONE PRO CYCLING s.t.
90 SAEZ, Hector CAJA RURAL s.t.
91 HANDLEY,  Richard ONE PRO CYCLING s.t.
92 SARABIA, Ignacio INTEJA-MMR s.t.
93 ARROYO, David CAJA RURAL s.t.
94 ETXEBARRIA, Victor RADIO  POPULAR-BOAVISTA s.t.
95 RUBLEVSKIS,  Aleksandrs RIETUMU-DELFIN s.t.
96 BIZKARRA, Mikel EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY s.t.
97 PARDILLA, Sergio CAJA RURAL s.t.
98 GONZALEZ, Aitor EUSKADI BASQUE COUNTRY s.t.
99 MARQUEZ, Rafael INTEJA-MMR s.t.
100 MAGALHAES, Samuel LOULETANO s.t.
101 VILANOVA, Marc MASSI-KUWAIT 26
102 KANEPEJS, Deins RIETUMU-DELFIN 28
103 HAYMAN, Mathew ORICA GreenEDGE s.t.
104 MOLANO, Sebastián MANZANA POSTOBON 51
105 PAREDES, Wilmar MANZANA POSTOBON 54
106 MEGIAS, Javier TEAM NOVO NORDISK 57
107 STRAKHOV,  Dmitrii SEL. RUSIA 2:06
108 PINTO, Sandro LOULETANO s.t.
109 REBOLLIDO, Angel W52-FC PORTO s.t.
110 JUUL JENSEN, Christopher ORICA GreenEDGE 2:28
111 SOBRINO, Josquin INTEJA-MMR 2:52
112 SMITH, Dion ONE PRO CYCLING s.t.
113 SUESHNIKOV, Kirill SEL. RUSIA 3:01
114 CHEUNG, King Lok ORICA GreenEDGE 5:59
115 GRIJALBA,  Fernando INTEJA-MMR 7:23

 

2016 Vuelta a Rioja map:

2016 Vuelta Rioja map

Course map

Course profile

Course profile