- The Portuguese cyclist won a final sprint over Fagúndez (Burgos BH) and Champoussin (Astana)
- “I felt good. The race is tough, but I saw a chance to break away on the last climb,” said the UAE Team Emirate rider after his victory in Onda.
Antonio Morgada has won the second edition of the Gran Premio Castellón – Ruta de la Cerámica after El Collado de Ayódar, the third climb of the race, was decisive. After a breakaway, which was brewing during the Alto de la Coma, the first mountain of the day, the passage through Onda, prior to the arrival in the same town, the escapees were absorbed by the peloton. The Portuguese rider came to a final sprint where he beat Fagúndez (Burgos BH) and Champoussin (Astana). Mathews, winner of the first edition, was unable to defend the title he won last year.
The Castellón-Ruta de la Cerámica Grand Prix got underway in Ribalta Park after the ribbon cutting ceremony, which was attended by Marta Barrachina, President of the Castellón Provincial Council; José Cabedo, General Manager of the Castellón-Ruta de la Cerámica Grand Prix; Iván Sánchez, Deputy for Sport; Maica Hurtado, Castellón Councillor for Sport; Carmina Ballester, Mayor of Onda; and Michael Matthews, winner of the first edition. After that, the race began and the attacks with it.
In fact, after the first two kilometres, the breakaway gradually took shape as the Alto de la Coma, the first mountain pass of the Gran Premio Castellón-Ruta de la Cerámica, a third category, was climbed. The Spaniard Carlos García (Burgos BH) reached the top first, followed by the also Spaniard Jokin Murguialday (Euskatel-Euskadi) and the Hungarian Martónn Dina (Euskatel-Euskadi). After finishing the climb with a slight advantage over the peloton, five riders tried to link up with the escaped group, these being the riders Baptiste Veistroffer (Loto), Unai Esparza (Illes Balears Arabay), Harrison Wood (Sabgal-anicolor), Kelvin Avoine (Van Rysel Roubaix) and Thomas Jack Brough (Avc Aix Provence Dole). The cyclists managed to do so several kilometres later and the escaped group was made up of eight riders.
The Spaniard Carlos García (Burgos BH) attacked during Serratella, the second mountain of the day. The rider finished the mountain first and that gave him first place in the mountains and the sprint jersey. During the descent towards Albocàsser, it started to rain and at kilometre 74 there was a crash at the back of the pack in which several riders were affected. Because of this, both Killian Theot (Van Rysel Roubaix) and Stefano Oldani (Cofidis) retired.
After the second pass through Vall d'Alba, where the two intermediate sprints were located, the winner of the Vidres Group jersey was Kévin Avoine (Van Rysel Roubaix). Meanwhile, in the special sprint in Sant Joan de Moro, the winner of the Smalticeram jersey was Jokin Murguialday (Euskatel-Euskadi).
The Cofidis, Jayco and Q36.5 teams led the pack and gradually closed the gap on the breakaway. The party was just beginning. With 70 kilometres to go, the gap was reduced to 1 minute 53 seconds. The chasing group started to work, but it was not until kilometre 152 that the main group began to absorb the breakaway. After the first pass through Onda, only Baptiste (Loto) and Brought (AVC Aix Provence Dole) remained at the front of the race. At the start, at kilometre 155, the group all came together.
The last mountain pass began and with it, the end of the party began for some riders who were beginning to feel the strain of the day. During the descent, Alessandro Covi (UAE), Fagúndez (Burgos BH), Antonio Morgodo (UAE), Clement Champoussin and Christian Scaroni (Astana), Matevz Govekar (Bahrain Victorius), who launched an attack on the pass, gained a lead of 11 seconds with 3 kilometres to go. The peloton could do no more and on the final slope the Portuguese beat the Uruguayan and the Frenchman.
“I felt good. The race is tough, but racing in Castellón is great. I like this part of Spain. As for the race, I saw that in the last climb I was well positioned with the team and I saw that I could attack and it was epic,” said the winner at the end of the race.
As for the other prizes, Morgado (Emirates) won the best young rider, the first regional rider was Joan Bou (Euskatel-Euskadi). Astana won the team general classification and the best rider was Carlos García (Burgos BH). As for the first Spaniard in the race, Alex Aramburu finished 14th.
Present at the awards ceremony were Carmina Ballester, Mayor of Onda, and the official sponsors of the Castellón-Ruta de la Cerámica Grand Prix: Grupo Vidres, Argenta, Smalticeram, Señalplast, Sprint, Bluemaq, Hyundai Mobikorea, Pissei. The UCI, RFEC and FCCV were also present.
