A long, powerful sprint by Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) has netted the Colombian fastman the opening stage of the Vuelta a Burgos.
Molano launched his final acceleration with some 300 metres to go on the left-hand side of the finishing straight, easily fending off a late charge by Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar), second, and Eduardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma), third, by more than a bike length.
“I’m quite emotional after this win. I had a few very difficult months after my crash earlier in the year, and I have to thank my family, girlfriend and the team for their support on my road back to competition. To do it in this way with a victory after such a good performance from my teammates to set it up is amazing, and I’m so happy," Molano said.
After a breakaway of five was caught with eight kilometres to go on the mostly flat opening stage of this year’s race, UAE and Jumbo-Visma ensured a bunch sprint was all but inevitable.
After two stage wins in 2021, Molano’s victory is his third in the Vuelta a Burgos and also earns the 28-year-sprinter the first lead of the race.
“I’ve got a lot of good memories of this race, and now I’ve got another one, and it couldn't have come at a better time,” Molano, on the comeback trail after a bad accident while training this spring, left him badly concussed and with a fractured foot, said afterwards.
“My thanks to all the people who’ve supported me through this difficult time. After winning here, my morale for the Vuelta a España could not be higher."
In a five-day race with just two flat stages, the few teams with sprinters present in Burgos were notably unwilling on Tuesday to let any breakaways get any kind of significant margin. So although Angel Fuentes (Burgos-BH), Josu Etxeberria (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Jose Maria Garcia (Electro Hiper Europa), Xabier Berasategui (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Mattia Bais (Eolo-Kometa) worked well in the break of the day, their advantage never rose to above three minutes.
A brief attempt by Eolo Kometa to form echelons on the flatlands of central Burgos with around 50 kilometres to go fizzled out as the crosswinds did not prove to be strong enough. Then after the ascent of the cat.3 Alto del Aguilon climb shattered the harmony in the breakaway the likelihood of a bunch sprint continued to rise fast.
Bais, the last survivor of the break, was reeled in by the UAE-led train and although a late attack by talented German allrounder Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) briefly flourished, a seemingly interminable series of long, straight roads made it virtually impossible for even a breakaway specialist of Kamna's calibre to gain any kind of important advantage.
A false flat in the suburbs of Burgos finally sank the German’s effort for good, and the sprinters massed at the front of the pack. Then after coming off Burgos-BH rider Manuel Penalver’s back wheel in the dash for the line, Molano’s sustained speed over 300 metres proved more than sufficient to net him his third win of the season.
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