Oier Lazkano (Movistar) won the third edition of the Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior after surviving over 100km in the early breakaway and dropping his last companion Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) 13km from the line.
The Spanish National Champion is the first from his country to win the off-road race. Prodhomme’s teammate Bastien Tronchon sprinted in for second ahead of Jan Tratnik in third after nearly four hours of racing.
Lazkano held off a strong four-man group including the Slovenian, Tronchon, Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) after exiting the last of four gravel sectors with 10km left to race and a 40-second advantage in hand.
Torrential rain at the weekend meant the 62.4km of planned gravel sectors were reduced to only 17.9km, but this still made for thrilling racing throughout the day and big names Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) had their chances at victory ended by punctures.
"The break was really difficult to form as different groups got away," Lazkano said. "When a break takes more than an hour to form, it's promising but of course, the peloton is really strong and I'm really happy with the result.
"First win of the year and it's always difficult to win. Winning in Spain with the National Champion's jersey is something beautiful. I'm really proud of all the work I've done in these months."
Lazkano described the final 15 kilometres when he went solo as "Agony, pure agony" and he'll be looking to carry this early season form into the Classics where he showed himself to be Movistar's best man for the cobbles at Dwars door Vlaanderen with a breakthrough second place.
How it unfolded
Action at the third edition of the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior started before the flag dropped on Monday morning, with the off-road racing through Jaén's extensive olive groves reduced to just four sectors due to torrential rain at the weekend.
The day's play would be far from easy with the route although shortened to 158km, still featuring over 2000m of elevation gain and all four of the remaining gravel sectors arriving in the final 50km.
The opening 100 kilometres saw several attacks from big names including the two podium sitters behind last year's winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) and Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates).
A strong five-man break formed with 109km remaining in the day. They were led by Lazkano, Igor Arietta (UAE Team Emirates), Prodhomme, Jefferson Cepeda (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) and Alex Molenaar (Illes Balears Arabay Cycling).
They extended their gap past five minutes as Visma-Lease a Bike assumed their position at the head of the peloton in aide of favourite Van Aert.
As the pace hotted up and tension grew in anticipation of the off-road sections, a crash took down five riders including Michael Leonard (Ineos Grenadiers) and Eduardo Sepúlveda (Lotto-Dstny).
The break navigated through the first 3.7km sterrato sector and disaster immediately struck for Van Aert. The Belgian punctured midway through the Cruz de Jaboneros and was forced to stop and swap his back wheel with Per Strand Haegenes. He would be left with a mountain of work left to do if he was to make it back to the business end of racing.
Lazkano, Arietta and Prodhomme were the only remaining riders in front from the break until the UAE Team Emirates rider ran out of steam with 41km left to race. The duo had an advantage of 3:33 on the chasing peloton.
Ineos Grenadiers took up the mantle of leading the main group to ensure Van Aert was kept behind and although their advantage on the Belgian was increasing, they were making little impact on the deficit to Lazkano and Prodhomme.
With 28km left to go on the Santa Eulalia section, the Visma-Lease a Bike riders who stayed in the peloton were allowed the freedom to go with Van Aert's chances all but done.
Tratnik and Kuss suddenly came to the fore and attacked the bunch with only four riders able to follow - Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) and Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar).
But in front, Lazkano was hitting out for the win 22km from the finish, but Prodhomme was up to it and closed to his back wheel in a flash. Racing came back together in the peloton with no one willing to chase down the 2:00 deficit.
UAE Team Emirates found themselves with the numeric advantage in the peloton with Juan Ayuso and Alessandro Covi taking on the domestique work as the leading duo hit the final gravel sector, Virgen de la Salud with 1:32 in hand.
The seconds began to melt away on the brutal final section and as Lazkano looked to be tiring, Prodhomme hit him with an attack until the Spanish Champion got back to his wheel and countered, leaving his fellow escapee.
Tratnik was pulling Wellens, Kuss and Tronchon to the front, but Ineos' best chance - Kwiatkowski - punctured out of contention. The quarter tried to get their chase together but the Frenchman offered no assistance with his teammate Prodhomme still in-between them and Lazkano.
For the leader, it was earpiece out and pain-face to the absolute maximum as he tried to survive on the wide open roads. The chasers didn't make enough impact as Lazkano entered the last couple of corners.
The 24-year-old had enough time to show the Spanish flag on his jersey with his arms aloft for his first victory of the season and seventh in his career. Tronchon's saved energy earned him second in the reduced sprint as Tratnik rolled over to round off the podium.
Results
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