Place Name: Calle Carretera A La Cueva
Address: Calle Carretera A La Cueva, 29780 Nerja, Málaga, Spain
Details: February 19, 2025
The 2024 edition was only 4.9KM due to farmer protests that shut down the rest of the race. The Ruta del Sol is back in full for 2025 and it starts with what may be the hardest day of the race with over 3,000M of climbing across five categorized climbs. The last climb ends with just under 15KM to go before plunging down to the finish in Cueva de Nerja after 163KM of racing. The last 400M has an average of 9% though which could produce gaps between any riders coming in to the finish together.
Eight riders went up the road with their eyes mainly set on gathering Mountains Points to get a lead in that classification. Of the eight riders, only Guillermo Thomas Silva of Caja Rural Seguros RGA and Andreas Leknessund of Uno-X Mobility were left at the front with 53KM to go. A chase group in between the leaders and the peloton had formed, consisting of Unai Iribar of Equipo Kern Pharma, Ander Okamika of Burgos-Burpellet BH, and Leander Van Hautegem of Wagner-Bazin WB of the original break as well as Pavel Sivakov of UAE-XRG who had attacked from the bunch. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were doing the chasing behind but given the rapid stage to this point, the peloton were down to around 40 riders. At 40KM to go, the steep climb through the town of Canillas de Albaida made more of a selection. Leknessund went off solo and Sivakov had dropped his companions as well but had picked up Silva. Leknessund had 40 seconds on Sivakov and Silva and about 1 minute 20 seconds on the rest of the bunch as he hit the final uphill through Cómpeta before the 13KM descent down towards the town of Torrox.
Tom Pidcock of Q36.5 took a flyer from the peloton through Cómpeta. He started the descent with about 10 bike lengths but the descent was quite technical which caused stress in the group. Tim Wellens of UAE-XRG and Maxim Van Gils of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe bridged up to Pidcock which took the momentum out and the group of favorites was back together. Things kicked off again on the Alto de Frigiliana. Van Gils attacked and caught Sivakov. The pair were 35 seconds behind Leknessund with 20KM to go and being chased by Clément Berthet of Decathlon AG2R, Steff Cras of TotalEnergies, Pidcock, Wellens and his teammate Marc Soler. Wellens made an effort and got up to Sivakov and Van Gils and the leading trio worked to keep the chase at bay. Leknessund was caught about 18KM from the finish and was quickly dropped by the leaders but hung on with the main chase group.
On the descent towards the line, Van Gils overcooked a corner. He stayed upright but had to make a big effort to get back on. They leaders held 20 seconds to the chase group at the bottom of the descent with 4KM remaining. Wellens and Sivakov tried to work over Van Gils but the Belgian answered each time. Sivakov pulled the group from 1500M out. Wellens started his sprint a little over 200M from the line but it was a long sprint on a steep finish. Van Gils went passed Wellens and held him off to take the victory. Sivakov came in 7 seconds later for third place. Soler and Berthet led the chase group in, down 30 seconds but there were gaps within that group. Leknessund came in at 33 seconds down and Cras and Pidcock were a further 6 seconds behind, 39 seconds down on Van Gils.
Tags: Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol, 2025, February, Stage 1, Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol 2025, Torrox, Cueva de Nerja, Guillermo Thomas Silva, Andreas Leknessund, Unai Iribar, Ander Okamika, Leander Van Hautegem, Pavel Sivakov, Tom Pidcock, Tim Wellens, Maxim Van Gils, Clément Berthet, Steff Cras, Marc Soler