Cartagena (Murcia), Feb 11 (EFE).- The British cyclist Ben Turner, from the Ineos Grenadiers team, took victory in the 43rd edition of the Cycling Tour of the Region of Murcia Costa Cálida-Gran Premio Primafrío, which took place played this Saturday between San Javier and Cartagena.
The young cyclist from the English town of Doncaster, 23 years old and 1.94 meters tall, won the finish line at Parque Torres, in Cartagena, by beating Australian Simon Clarke in a sprint uphill.
Turner, a professional since 2017, stood his ground and bided his time to win after 4 hours, 25 minutes and 8 seconds, rolling at a speed of 41 kilometers per hour.
Behind him were Clarke, from Israel Premier Tech, second; and the Belgian Jordi Meeus, from Bora Hansgrohe, who finished in third position.
In fourth and fifth place were the French Valentin Madouas, from Groupama FDJ; and the Italian Matteo Trentin, from the UAE Team Emirates, in a close finish.
The rain and the wind conditioned the day and modified the test route, which, for safety reasons for the participants, was shortened -it went from 194.7 to 183.5 kilometers- and the ascent of Collado Bermejo-Cima was suppressed Marco Pantani, a special category pass in the heart of Sierra Espuña, which was the main mountain level of the day. On the contrary, they did climb the Cola del Caballo hill, third grade, in the municipality of Librilla.
The race, which started a little later than expected, finally had 146 runners from 21 teams taking the start at Parque Almansa in San Javier and, as almost always happens, had its long breakaway, which was led by five runners whose adventure reached an advantage that came to be around four minutes over the peloton
Iván Romeo from Valladolid, from the Movisar Team; Australian Harry Sweeny, from Lotto Dstny; French Paul Ourselin, from TotalEnergies; and Mateu Estelrich from Mallorca and José María García from Murcia, both from Electro Híper Europa, leaped ahead with verve.
Estelrich and García were the first to disconnect and the other three remained in the lead until they passed the third category Cedadero peak, located 17 kilometers from the finish line.
There Sweeny crowned first place, as Rubén Fernández from Murcia, from Cofidis, had done before, at the top of the Cresta del Gallo, also third; and Estelrich, in that of the Horse’s Tail.
Since the UAE and Ineos pulled hard from behind, the leak was considered neutralized with 13.2 kilometers still to go. From that moment on, the dalliances followed one another, although without giving the impression that any of them were going to prosper.
Circulating at a frenetic pace, the main group marched in the lead, although losing pieces progressively, also due to some falls, and its members took positions to lead the climb to Parque Torres, an ascent of one kilometer with an average slope of 6% and ramps of up to the 15%.
There the strongest was Bent Turner, who succeeded the Italian Alessandro Covi, from the UAE, in the Murcian round.