The Tour of Andalucia was concluded by a fifth intense stage this Sunday with an uphill final towards Chiclana de Segura (6.4km at 5.6%). After working in the lead of the peloton the previous days, Frenchman Théo Delacroix showed himself in the front of the race again, this time by joining the breakaway of the day after 10 kilometer on the flanks of the Puerto Fuente del Gallo, the first of four categorized climbs. The breakaway of nineteen riders stayed ahead of the peloton until the final 70 kilometer, so it was the peloton which crossed the intermediate sprint in Santo Tomé first.
A group of thirteen counterattackers was formed before the final climb and battled for the victory of this fifth stage. Italian climber Domenico Pozzovivo accompanied the best climbers in the peloton in a group of around ten men and concluded the five day race or his first appearance in the colors of the Belgian team in 21st place in the classification.
Our leaders rewarded our hard work with nice successes the last couple of weeks and I was lucky to have a share in Alexander Kristoff’s victory in the Clasica de Almeria, his first one in our colors. Also during this Ruta del Sol we took the responsibility in the peloton every day to defend Domenico Pozzovivo’s position in the general classification and in the hope that we could sprint for the victory with Biniam Girmay. We worked well collectively and I’m happy that I was able to show myself in the breakaway at the end of my busy race schedule in February. I want to recover well from this intense period in order to be ready for some French and Italian classics which suit me well.
