Andalucía Bike Race by GARMIN crowns its new champions in the Finisher Stage

Rabensteiner and Porro, with a solid performance in all six stages, win the men's race. Wüst and Van Doorn seal a flawless performance and are the new champions.

For the first time, the Finisher Stage was a time trial with start and finish in the Asomadilla Park in Cordoba. The stage of 27.93 kilometres and 821 metres of elevation gain was broadcast live on the Andalucía Bike Race Youtube channel, and which can be viewed at this link and which can be viewed here.

The Finisher Stage has put the finishing touch to an edition with 340 km and 10,000 m accumulated that have crowned Fabian Rabensteiner and Samuele Porro of Wilier-Vittoria in the elite men's category, and Janina Wüst and Rosa Van Doorn of Buff Megamo in the elite women's category. Both pairs were placed as leaders in the second stage of this Andalucía Bike Race, being the stage held in Jaén the most decisive of this edition.

In today's time trial, the winners were a surprising Andrew L'Espérance and Sean Fincham of Team Maxxis Factory Racing, the Canadians recorded the best time in all the sections of the course, frustrating the aspirations of Alleman and Becking, who had gone all out to snatch second place in the general classification from Andreas Seewald and Marc Stutzmann of the Canyon Sidi MTB TEAM.

Finally, the Buff Megamo riders made up the three-second deficit and took an extra fifty seconds off them, relegating Seewald and Stutzmann to third place.

Rabensteiner and Porro managed the advantage they had over their pursuers and crossed the finish line in fourth position, aware that they were the new Andalucía Bike Race champions. For Rabensteiner, leader of the UCI XCM ranking, this is his third victory in Andalusia.

The winners, in the interview afterwards commented, "It was a very beautiful race, from start to finish, today we had decided to start strong, and although we tried to avoid risks, it is also true that with a course like this it was difficult not to take them. We immediately realised that the course was quite competitive and technical on many occasions".

In the women's category, Txell Figueras and Claudia Peretti of Cannondale ISB won the time trial in a real exhibition. The Catalan and the Italian champion have been the great entertainers of this last stage. With the victory in the Finisher Stage, they take a 2 stage win, being the only ones who have been able to dispute the hegemony on the podium to Wüst and Van Doorn.

Figueras, winner together with Peretti in the time trial, declared in our live set: "I am very happy; neither Claudia (Peretti) nor I expected these results. We hadn't competed together and we didn't know each other personally. These days have been a gift. To finish like this is brutal. When Claudia agreed to come to the Andalucía Bike Race, it was like a Tinder match for me", joked the Catalan.

The undisputed leaders, Wüst and Van Doorn, faced the last stage without taking unnecessary risks, as the gap to the second-placed riders seemed insurmountable. The Swiss and the Dutchwoman have won four of the six stages.

Both declared at the finish line their enthusiasm for this race: "We are very happy, you can't always win four stages. We are also happy for the team; it is incredible with this super level at the beginning of the season... It is a very beautiful race, with many trails and very technical. In Jaen there are long climbs, and in Cordoba it's open country; there's everything in 6 stages.”

We thank all those who made this edition possible, starting with the hundreds of participants, volunteers and sponsors. Without them, it would not have been possible.

STAGE 6 RESULTS- ELITE UCI MEN'S CATEGORY

Andrew L’Esperance - Sean Fincham TEAM MAXXIS FACTORY RACING 01:12:02

Wout Alleman - Hans Becking BUFF MEGAMO 01:12:03

Andreas Seewald - Marc Stutzmann CANYON SIDI MTB TEAM 01:12:57

OVERALL RESULTS- ELITE UCI MEN'S CATEGORY

Fabian Rabensteiner - Samuele Porro WILIER-VITTORIA 12:20:29

Wout Alleman - Hans Becking BUFF MEGAMO 12:22:30

Andreas Seewald - Marc Stutzmann CANYON SIDI MTB TEAM 12:23:20

STAGE 6 RESULTS- ELITE UCI WOMEN'S CATEGORY

Txell Figueras - Claudia Peretti CANNONDALE ISB 01:31:42

Janina Wüst - Rosa Van Doorn BUFF MEGAMO 01:33:44

Mónica Calderón - Tessa Kortekaas CANNONDALE ISB 01:34:12