Clocking up his first win since stage four of last year’s Presidential Tour of Turkey, Australian sprinter Mark Renshaw was quickest at the end of today’s Clasica del Almeria in Spain.
The Blanco Pro Cycling rider did things perfectly in a large bunch gallop to the line, ending the 178.2 kilometre race ahead of his rivals and clocking up the ninth victory of the season for his team.
Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Team Argos-Shimano) notched up second place, while Francesco Lasca (Caja Rural) and Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Euskaltel-Euskadi) were third and fourth.
Renshaw said afterwards that he was protected all the way by his team-mates, who were focussed on keeping things together and getting him to the final kilometre in the best possible condition and position.
“In the team meeting we discussed the tactics for today. We would aim for a sprint. During the race it was always Juanma Garate and David Tanner looking after me,” he explained. “On the hills Robert Gesink, Bauke Mollema, Wilco Kelderman and Laurens ten Dam made sure there were not to many explosions.
“Stef Clement followed the moves in the peloton continuously, by chasing the breakaways. It was really impressive to have this level of riders helping me to the victory. It was a collective victory of the team.”
Early on, Pablo Urtasun (Euskatel-Euskadi), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskadi) and David de la Cruz (NetApp) attacked and built a decent lead. However the Blanco riders dragged them back with approximately fifty kilometres remaining and while a number of other riders tried to get clear, the final result was determined in that big gallop to the line.
Van Rensburg went closest to Renshaw, but couldn’t quite do it today. He said afterwards that he mistimed his effort slightly.
“It was quite flat at the beginning, then we had some hills in the middle of the race, and at the end it was flat again,” he stated, “but the team did a good job keeping me out of the wind. In the final kilometres they got the train in place, and there was a slight headwind so it was a difficult sprint. I went a little bit too late and was beaten by Renshaw.”
This year is his first racing as part of a WorldTour squad and he will be taking part in higher-level races as a result. The African rider is pleased with things thus far, and takes encouragement from today’s result. “I am really happy to get back on the podium. I was a little nervous this morning because I knew there was a change in store for me today. So I’m happy to have finally made it.”
He’ll head back to Holland tomorrow and describes that as likely to be ‘a bit of a shock,’ on the grounds that he has never been in snow before. He’ll train as best he can, given the conditions, and then compete in the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen next weekend.
Renshaw moved to Rabobank last year and took that Presidential Tour of Turkey win. He was also runner-up in Paris-Brussels and on stages of the Ster ZLM Tour and the Tour Down Under. However his first year away from his previous role as Mark Cavendish’s lead out man was not as successful as he would have hoped, and he will aim for more this season.
Clasica del Almeria (2.HC)
1, Mark Renshaw (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) 178.2 kilometres in 4 hours 30 mins 14 secs
2, Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Team Argos-Shimano)
3, Francesco Lasca (Caja Rural)
4, Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
5, Stéphane Poulhies (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
6, Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Movistar Team)
7, Bartlomiej Matysiak (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
8, Dennis Vanendert (Lotto Belisol)
9, Fabien Schmidt (Sojasun)
10, Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
11, Carlos Barbero Cuesta (EUK)
12, Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
13, Luis Mas Bonet (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
14, Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar Team)
15, Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
16, Simone Ponzi (Astana Pro Team)
17, Pablo Torres Muino (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
18, Daniel Schorn (Team NetApp-Endura)
19, Karol Domagalski (Caja Rural)
20, Tanel Kangert (Astana Pro Team)
21, Adrian Kurek (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
22, Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Movistar Team)
23, David Tanner (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
24, Jesus Herrada Lopez (Movistar Team)
25, Moises Duenas Nevado (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
26, Janez Brajkovic (Astana Pro Team)
27, Danail Andonov Petrov (Caja Rural)
28, Tom Dumoulin (Team Argos-Shimano)
29, Nicolas Edet (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
30, Jerome Coppel (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
31, Enzo Moyano (Caja Rural)
32, Imanol Erviti (Movistar Team)
33, Adrian Honkisz (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
34, José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Movistar Team)
35, José Herrada Lopez (Movistar Team)
36, David Arroyo Duran (Caja Rural)
37, Javier Moreno Bazan (Movistar Team)
38, Egor Silin (Astana Pro Team)
39, Bart De Clercq (Lotto Belisol)
40, Igor Anton Hernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
41, Bartosz Huzarski (Team NetApp-Endura)
42, Davide Rebellin (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
43, Cesare Benedetti (Team NetApp-Endura)
44, Maxime Mederel (Sojasun)
45, Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Astana Pro Team)
46, Daniel Navarro Garcia (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
47, Tim Wellens (Lotto Belisol)
48, Jurgen Van De Walle (Lotto Belisol) at 8 secs
49, Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
50, Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 16 secs
51, Francis De Greef (Lotto Belisol)
52, Cyril Bessy (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) at 19 secs
53, Juan Jose Oroz Ugalde (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
54, Jelle Vanendert (Lotto Belisol) at 21 secs
55, Francois Parisien (Team Argos-Shimano) at 42 secs
56, Kevin Seeldraeyers (Astana Pro Team)
57, Simon Geschke (Team Argos-Shimano)
58, Bauke Mollema (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
59, Wilco Kelderman (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 1 min mins 22 secs
60, Laurens Ten Dam (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
61, Marcos Garcia (Caja Rural) at 2 mins 21 secs
62, Robert Gesink (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 2 mins 48 secs
63, David De La Cruz Melgarejo (Team NetApp-Endura)
64, Ricardo Mestre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 2 mins 51 secs
65, Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
66, Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun)
67, Brice Feillu (Sojasun)
68, Steve Bekaert (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
69, Dirk Bellemakers (Lotto Belisol)
70, Paul Poux (Sojasun)
71, Rob Ruijgh (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
72, Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
73, Johannes Fröhlinger (Team Argos-Shimano)
74, Patrick Gretsch (Team Argos-Shimano)
75, Stef Clement (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
76, Mikel Bizkarra (EUK)
77, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team)
78, Iker Camano Ortuzar (Team NetApp-Endura)
79, Juan Manuel Garate (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
80, David Belda Garcia (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
81, Andrey Zeits (Astana Pro Team)
82, Aritz Bagües (EUK)
83, José Joao Pimenta Costa Mendes (Team NetApp-Endura)
84, Lukasz Owsian (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
85, Leopold Konig (Team NetApp-Endura)
86, Yannick Talabardon (Sojasun)
87, Wouter Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
88, Yelko Gomez (Caja Rural)
89, Antonio Piedra Perez (Caja Rural)
90, Unai Iparragirre (EUK) at 3 mins 51 secs
91, Mikel Iturria (EUK) at 3 mins 52 secs
92, Igor Merino Cortazar (EUK)
93, Grzegorz Stepniak (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 3 mins 57 secs
94, Illart Zuazubiskar Gallastegi (EUK) at 5 mins 57 secs
95, Barry Markus (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
96, Danny Van Poppel (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
97, Jaroslaw Marycz (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
98, Federico Butto (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
99, Nikita Novikov (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
100, Maurits Lammertink (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
101, Tarik Chaoufi (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
102, Jan Barta (Team NetApp-Endura)
103, Jon Larrinaga (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
104, Gert Joeaar (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
105, Tristan Valentin (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
106, Jonas Ahlstrand (Team Argos-Shimano)
107, Jesus Del Pino Corrochano (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
108, Darío Hernández (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
109, Joost Van Leijen (Lotto Belisol) at 7 mins 59 secs
Did not finish:
Anthony Delaplace (Sojasun)
Cheng Ji (Team Argos-Shimano)