Rune Herregodts (Sport Vlaanderen Baloise) took the victory from an eight-man breakaway in the opening stage of Vuelta a Andalucia.
The group had been allowed to accumulate a large lead by the peloton, which chased late to limit their losses but could not bring back the breakaway.
“It was a difficult day to go away,” the Sport Vallanderen-Baloise rider said afterwards. “But it was a large group, which is ideal.
“I didn’t go to hard at the start. The cooperation was great. Nobody skipped their turns. The last climb, everyone tried to go alone but there were three or four guys who were quite equal. I know after a hard day I can ride quite well so I trusted my sprint. It was great to be with two teammates in the break. It was really a team effort.
“It’s a very important victory. It’s quite a good field. We are very happy to take a stage here at quite a prestigious race for our team.”
Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) attacked from the bunch inside the final kilometre, only to be chased down by Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar).
The Italian came in seventh, 31 seconds down on the stage winner, with the rest of the bunch crossing the line 7 seconds later.
