Cyclingflash
Emils Liepins and Marc Soler win after 15 minutes of racing in Vuelta a Murcia

Emils Liepins and Marc Soler win after 15 minutes of racing in Vuelta a Murcia

Emils Liepins won the improvised final stage in the Vuelta a Murcia. The Latvian sprinter took the victory after about fifteen minutes of racing. Since the times in the criterium did not count towards the general classification, Marc Soler secured overall victory.

What kind of stage was scheduled?
Initially, a 179-kilometer stage with the Alto Collado Bermejo (16.1 kilometers at 5.5%) was planned in the Vuelta a Murcia, but it quickly became clear that the wind on Saturday was too strong to race normally.

The organizers decided in the morning to shorten the stage by forty kilometers, but that choice proved risky on the road. As a result, the race was fully neutralized. To still entertain the spectators in the finish town of Santomera, a ten-kilometer criterium was organized to crown a stage winner.

How did the criterium unfold?
The criterium in Santomera lasted only fifteen minutes, and the riders in Murcia seemed reluctant to really race. For the first fourteen minutes, the peloton rode together at a low pace.

Only in the final few hundred meters did the sprinters come to the fore. Ultimately, Emils Liepins won the improvised final stage of the Vuelta a Murcia ahead of Julius
Johansen.

What else stood out today?
Marc Soler was already assured of the overall win in the Vuelta a Murcia before the criterium even began. The times in the criterium did not count toward the general classification.