Cycling’s Tour of Andalucia rides into Benalmadena

Wednesday, 22 February 2012 16:06

Written by Editor

The race, better known as Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol, started on Sunday with a 6Km prologue time trial. The stage was won by Patrick Gretsch team (Project 1t4i) in a time of 6'49", second place went to  Markel Irizar team (Radioshack-Nissan) at +0'02"secs, third place Jerome Coppel team (Saur-Sojasun) at +0'03"secs, fourth Michael Matthews team (Rabobank) at +0'06"secs, and in fifth place just 8 seconds adrift  Gaetan Bille team (Lotto-Belisol).

Stage two saw the riders head off  from Zahara de los Atunes with a ride of some 197.9 Km to Benalmadena, with just a couple of  category 3 climbs of just over 300 metres each one at 46 Km  and the other soon after at the 49 Km point, the stage was relatively flat. At the finish in a packed Benalmadena fans cheered home local riders  Javier Ramirez team (Andalucia), who just managed to hold off local  Luis Angel Maté, team (Cofidis, le crédit en ligne )in the sprint finish in a time of 5h02'10".  Canadian rider Will Routley team (Spidertech powered by C10) at +0'03"secs, fourth place going to Oscar Freire team (Rabobank) and 5th was Juan José Lobato del Valle. (In the photo the riders make their way through the streets of Benalmadena)The event is a major economic boost for tourism in the area, and as both the teams and the large number of media that accompany them stayed overnight in hotels in Benalmadena, a good money earner for local hoteliers and restaurants.

Tuesday’s stage would see the riders tackle a mountainous day of over 150 km, with a Cat 2 climb of Puerto de Patas Cortas, coming at Km 21, followed by the stiff Cat 1 climb of Puerto del Torcal after 45 Km. The stage finish is at the top of yet another Cat 1 climb of over 800 mts the Alta  Santuario Ntra. Sra. De Araceli, in Lucena.

Wednesday’s stage will take the race from Montemayor to Las Gabias a total of 157 Km and another tough day in the saddle with three Cat 3 climbs. The race finishes on Thursday with a ride of over 135Km from Jaen to La Guardia De Jaen. These cyclists certainly earn their money and my respect.

Report by: Mike Kerrigan.   Photo by: Geoff Heading