Theo Bos took his biggest win on the road so far by outsprinting Mark Cavendish in the Clásica de Almería on Sunday. Graeme Brown finished third and Luis León Sánchez fourth in the bunch sprint.

“It was a pretty hard course today,” said Theo Bos. “At the beginning of the race I was in the second group, along with Mark Cavendish. In the downhill I was too far behind and the group split.” 

With the help from his teammates, Bos managed to come back. “It was a strange situation in the final, as no team was able to control the bunch. I was too far behind and nobody went and I was in pretty good position in the last 300 meters. When we got close to the finish nobody started to sprint so I decided to go full gas. Cavendish waited long and he was not able to pass me in the last few meters.”

It was Brown’e third podium finish in as many years. When the race broke briefly over the final climb, Rabobank had six guys in the front part, but their work was in vain. “Three teams were workijng to close the gap and managed to do so 20km from the finish,” Rabobank’s sports director Adri van Houwelingen said.

A classic race

The first meta volante after 21km was won by Iván Gutiérrez (Caisse), ahead of Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil) and Ricardo García (Orbea).

The break then developed with Sergio Carrasco (Andalucía), Gonzalo Rabuñal (Xacobeo), Michal Golas (Vacansoleil) and Xabier Zabalo (Orbea).

They reached a maximum gap of 6’50 after 36 kilometers. After around 90km it started to rain, with the gap down to four minutes.

The break was caught with 50km to go and despite several climbs and a brief split in the peloton, the field arrived in one big group for the bunch sprint.

2010 Clásica de Almería results:
1. Theo Bos (Cervélo) 4:22:53
2. Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC) m.t.
3. Graeme Brown (Rabobank) m.t.
4. Luis León Sánchez (Caisse d’Epargne) m.t.
5. Davide Appollonio (Cervélo) m.t.
6. Michael Golas (Vacansoleil) m.t.
7. J. Martín Montenegro (Andalucía-CajaSur) m.t.
8. Dani Moreno (Omega Pharma-Lotto) m.t.
9. Rubén Pérez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) m.t.
10. Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Lotto) m.t.
11. Rodrigo García (Xacobeo Galicia) m.t.
12. Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil) m.t.

 

 

Clásica de Almería results: