Cycling: The Costa Cálida was held over two days this year - but the winner remained the same. Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) defended his title thanks to a strong team performance.
Costa Cálida #1: Astana celebrates triple triumph
The Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia Costa Cálida was not held as a one-day race this season, but as a two-day race. Already on Friday the pros had to cover 188,8 kilometers from Yecla to San Javier. For last year's winners Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and the five-time winner Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) had to find their perfect position. While Alejandro Valverde narrowly missed the podium, Luis Leon Sanchez sprinted behind his teammate Omar friar (Astana) in third place. The perfect result for the Kazakh team completed bilbao hair (Astana). The 28-year-old won three seconds ahead of his pursuers. The Austrian too Patrick Conrad (Bora – hansgrohe) was the first non-Spaniard to get into a good ambush with fifth place. With Jakob Fuglsang another Astana professional finished sixth. Behind them, the first larger group sprinted across the finish line nine seconds behind the day's winner.
🇰🇿😎 Dominio totally del @AstanaTeam in the 1st stage of the Vuelta in Murcia and in San Javier.
1º Pello Bilbao
2º Omar Fraile
3º Luis Leon Sanchez pic.twitter.com/etR30Fzd26— Sp_ | Ciclismo (@Sp_Ciclismo) 15. February 2019
Costa Cálida #2: Konrad & Valverde try everything against Astana
The Costa Cálida came to an end in 177,3 with the 2019-kilometer route from Beniel to Murcia. The biggest difficulties of the day had to be overcome in the middle of the race. From a topographical point of view, the Alto de Aledo and the Alto Collado Bermejo presented the most challenging obstacles. However, the decision should first come up to the Alto de La Cresta del Gallo, since after crossing the summit there were only 12,1 kilometers to go to the finish line. And although Patrick Conrad (Bora – hansgrohe) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) tried their best, the Astana armada just couldn't be beaten this weekend. Valverde could join Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) but behind them Fuglsang, Bilbao and Fraile were lurking in the group around Konrad. Astana had everything under control in the fight for overall victory. And they didn't even let the victory of the day take them away. Luis Leon Sanchez repeated his triumph and crowned it with the day's victory - on top of that there was applause from the world champion.
🇪🇸@LLEONSANCHEZ of 🇰🇿@AstanaTeam wins stage 2 of 🇪🇸@VueltaMurcia #VueltaCiclistaMurcia2019 pic.twitter.com/IC565bIN5f
- World Cycling Stats (@wcsbike) 16. February 2019