Final KM 2020: Vuelta a San Juan, Stage 6; Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race; Women’s CX champs; Challenge Mallorca

Lots of great racing so far this weekend – we had quite unexpected wins from non-sprinters (both from QuickStep, doncha know …), an unbelievably spectacular and emotional Women’s CX World Championship race, and a Movistar Mallorcan win

Stage 6, Vuelta a San Juan

I don’t think that Zdenek Stybar could hear the thumping of the sprinters’ handlebars in frustration behind him as he broke through the boom of the confetti cannons to take his first San Juan win in Stage 6. A combination of teams holding back before showing their trains, the final km racing round a motor circuit that QuickStep had recced earlier in the week and one of Stybar’s beautifully audacious split-second moves that stun teams into not chasing until it’s too late … oh I love it when this guy wins. It’s always something to get you jumping out of your seat to shout, GO GO GO! Stybar’s teammate Remco Evenepoel is still in the leader’s jersey and, unless something untoward occurs, there’s no getting it off him.

Full race results are here Race Website @vueltasanjuanok #VueltaSJ2020

Fewer things are better on a Saturday night than a win for @zdenekstybar https://t.co/h3UCXsp16m

— Journal Velo (@JournalVelo) February 1, 2020

Cadel Evans’ Ocean Road Race – men’s elite

No highlights reel at the time of writing, but on the other side of the world, another QuickStep rider stole a march on what is usually a finish for the sprinters. It was an aggressive day full of attacks, peloton busting apart then reforming (thanks mainly to Ineos and Mitchelton-Scott at various points in the race), until it came down to QuickStep’s Dries Devenyns and Pavel Sivakov (Ineos), who broke away a few kilometres from the finish and stayed away. Devenyns went out in front a couple hundred metres from the finish line but Sivakov couldn’t respond, making it the fourth Deceuninck QuickStep win of the season so far – and their 750th UCI win in total. With Sivakov second, it was Mitchelton-Scott’s Daryl Impey who rounded out the podium. Full race results are here

🏆 CHAMPION

That’s how it’s done💥Explosive win by Dries Devenyns (@deceuninck_qst) in the first UCI WorldTour one-day race of the season.

Chapeau! #CadelRoadRace #UCIWT #Salute pic.twitter.com/4Qb6pwfiIx

— Cadel Road Race (@CadelRoadRace) February 2, 2020

Not often I cross the finish line in 1st 😎, #750 for the team! Thanks @deceuninck_qst 👊 https://t.co/NXWgv8K7uu

— Dries Devenyns (@3sdevenyns) February 2, 2020

Trofeo Pollenca – Port d’Andratx : Challenge Mallorca

It was a day when the Movistar team car did not pull Marc Soler back to work for a teammate – they let him ride his own race and, look!, he won! Bora’s Gregor Mühlberger hung with him as far as he could but Soler made good use of the steep gradients along the way to solo to a victory. Soler’s teammate Davide Villella rounded out the podium. Full race results are here

🏇💪🥇 @solermarc93 takes long-range effort in #ChallengeMallorca to fruition with Movistar Team's maiden 2020 victory in Andratx – full report, quotes from Marc + @PhotoGomezSport pics here 👇https://t.co/sZpMx3WtBQ

— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) February 1, 2020

Women’s CX World Championship

We don’t cover cyclo-cross here on VeloVoices – we can only just keep up with the road racing! However, the finish from yesterday’s women’s cyclo-cross world championship race was gripping (although no highlight reel as yet) and the reaction of Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado over the finish line and on the podium is something to brighten anyone’s day. It was a Dutch podium through and through with Annemarie Worst and Lucinda Brand taking silver and bronze respectively. Full race results here