Kwiatkowski wins Clasica Jaen in style

Michal Kwiatkowski pulled off a classy solo victory at Clasica Jaen following over 60 kilometres on the attack.

The Grenadier capped off an aggressive performance from the team in Spain, pushing clear with the winning acceleration at 12km to go.

The foundations had been laid by a number of attacks and accelerations from Kwiatkowski’s teammates across a punishing course littered with gravel sectors.

Egan Bernal, Connor Swift, Ben Turner and Axel Laurance all rode their way into a select chasing group, with Laurance finishing fifth in Ubeda, with Turner ninth.

Bernal, Swift and Oscar Rodriguez were all caught up in crashes during the day. Following checks Bernal was diagnosed with a fractured clavicle.

Kwiatkowski moved into an established three-man move alongside Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) and Clement Alleno (Burgos Burpellet BH), which pulled clear of the pack heading into the final 60km.

Behind the move, Bernal was very active and helped monitor and shut down accelerations behind. Eventually Kwiatkowski and McNulty were joined by original breakaway rider Ibon Ruiz (Kern Pharma), with the trio pulling out a strong advantage.

Following a puncture from McNulty, Kwiato eventually forged clear solo, winning by a margin of 26 seconds over lead chaser Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates – XRG).

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Michal Kwiatkowski: "I always have to believe that anything is possible.

"The pace was super hard from the second sector and I didn’t expect it so early on. Later on it was just a small group and we had a lot of numbers, everybody was racing perfectly. We knew we could do it well. I was just going with the McNulty move and get to the finish.

"I’m proud of how we rode today. I want to dedicate this victory to my family after a tough couple of months, so it’s all for them."