Clásica Jaén 2026

February 16, 2026 The closest that professional riders get to gravel racing during the season is in Strade Bianche and today's Clásica Jaén. With 154KM to cover between the start/finish town of Úbeda and through the endless olive groves, the riders will have to traverse around 20KM of gravel roads and nearly 2,300M of climbing. The first half of the route is rolling but the first gravel section doesn't start until 74KM remaining. The second sector is 7KM long with sustained sections that climb at an average of 5.5%. Sector two leads into a 3KM tarmac climb up to the first passage of the finish line with 46KM to go. The rest of the race continues on rolling roads and farm tracts between the sea of olive groves until 10KM to go when the 7KM gravel sector comes again with the climb to the finish. There were five World Tour squads on the start list and they were not scared to put big name riders into the race. Pello Bilbao, Matej Mohorič, Giulio Pellizzari, Tim Wellens, Marc Soler, Iván Romeo, and Tom Pidcock all lined up and would be the names to watch throughout the day. Low clouds had moved into Andalucía and both riders and spectators were wrapped up as they rolled out on damp roads. Attacks came right away and an early break formed but with 64KM to go, UAE-XRG were leading the peloton which was already down to 30 riders, the break had been caught, and Tim Wellens sent the first attack of the favorites. Mark Donovan of Pinarello Q36.5 followed and the pair built a small margin. Donovan didn't pull because his team leader Tom Pidcock was in the peloton so it became a pursuit between Wellens and Bahrain Victorious who took up the chase. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe added resources but it was Iván Romeo of Movistar who accelerated into the second gravel sector with 57KM to go. In a surprise move, it was Donovan that attacked Wellens but the Belgian made his way back to the lead and counter attacked. Donovan couldn't follow and Wellens went solo. With 53KM to go, Donovan was drifting back at 25 seconds and the peloton was a further 35 seconds behind. Wellens exited the sector with 50KM to go, 1 minute ahead of the remnants of the peloton with Pinarello Q36.5 doing all the work to hold Wellens in check. The situation remained the same until the next gravel sector with 38KM to go. Wellens had extended his advantage to 1 minute 15 seconds and the bunch looked content to race for second place. It wasn't until 29KM to go that Quinten Hermans of Pinarello Q36.5 pulled Pidcock away along with eight others including three members of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and a few UAE-XRG riders. The group swelled back to fifteen and stalled. With 18KM to go, Matej Mohorič of Bahrain Victorious attacked from the chase which got the group moving bit quicker. Pidcock made an attack as well but no one could get a gap and it only served to trim the group. With 10KM to go, the chase was still 1 minute behind Wellens and consisted of ten riders, three of which were from UAE-XRG. The group was cut down to three riders including Pidcock, Jan Christen of UAE-XRG, and Maxim Van Gils of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe on the final uphill gravel sector with 7KM remaining. The move brought Wellens' advantage from 1 minute to 40 seconds. The gap was down to 30 seconds at 5KM to go but Christen was acting as a lead anchor sitting on the back. Wellens was working and transferring all the power from his body into the bike but he didn't have to worry. He still had 20 seconds as he reached the 1KM banner. The chasers started to play at 500M when they realized the win was officially out of their grasp. Wellens crossed the line after a 64KM attack to take his first win in the Clásica Jaén after having finished second, third, and fourth in previous years. Behind, Christen was on the front as the trio were looking around at each other until 180M from the line when Pidcock opened up. The others didn't see the Brit quick enough and by the time they started sprinting, Pidcock had enough of a margin to seal second place. As Christen was trying to reach the back wheel of Pidcock, he and Van Gils came together and Van Gils hit the barrier and went flying over the bars. Christen came over the line for third on the day and Van Gils unfortunately did not finish. After the race, the jury disqualified Christen for his sprint which moved his teammate, Benoît Cosnefroy, into third.