©ASO – Pauline Ballet
Saudi Tour: First for the Belgian Van Gils
Aged 22, Belgian Maxim Van Gils, from the Lotto-Soudal team, won the Saudi Tour at the end of the fifth stage on Saturday. He overtook the Colombian Buitrago in the general classification. Van Gils had laid the foundation for his victory on Friday by winning the queen stage: “It’s so special. This is my first professional victory,” said the Antwerp resident, 7th in the Tour de Wallonie in 2021 for his first year as a professional.
Dutchman Groenewegen was full of confidence in Saudi Arabia where he won two stages.
The results: 1. Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Soudal), 2. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), 3. Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates)
Stages won by: Cadel Ewan (LTS), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco), Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Soudal), Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco).
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Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana: The Russian Vlasov well in control
Russian Aleksandr Vlasov won the 73rd edition of the Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana on Sunday.
By overhauling Evenepoel to take the leader’s jersey during Friday’s queen stage after a tour de force performance, Vlasov has arrived in the best way possible for the Bora-Hansgrohe team: “I am very happy to win the overall victory, we have had five perfect days,” the Vyborg native commented. “I’m happy with my form and I think we have a good base to build on for the next goals.”
By winning two stages, the Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen also confirmed his good condition at the start of the season.
The results: 1. Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), 2. Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl), 3. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers).
Stages won by: Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep- Alpha Vinyl), Fabio Jakobsen (QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), Matteo Moschetti (Trek-Segafredo), Fabio Jakobsen (QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl).
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Volta Ciclista a la Comunitat Valenciana féminas: Italian double in Valencia
At 36, the 2007 road world champion Marta Bastianelli won the women’s race in Valencia on Sunday. She had already tasted victory in this race in 2020. This time, she took the measure of her compatriot Ilaria Sanguineti in the final sprint. Barbara Guarischi took third place before being relegated due to the jury deeming her sprint as irregular. In the end, the Austrian Kathrin Schweinberger completed the podium.
The results: 1. Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ), 2. Ilaria Sanguineti (Valcar Travel & Service), 3. Kathrin Schweinberger (Ceratizit -WNT).
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Races to come:
Tour de Provence 8-13/02 www.tourdelaprovence.fr
Tour of Oman 10-15/02 www.tour-of-oman.com
Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia Costa Calida (Esp) 12/02 www.vueltamucia.es
Clasica de Almeria (Esp) 13/02 www.clasicadealmeria.net