Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team’s Domen Novak took fifth place in yesterday’s last stage of the Vuelta Ciclista a Andalusia.
Ondrej Cink was ninth in the overall classification. Javier Moreno, who was 10th, was also named the best Andalusian.
A rainy and windy weather provided slippery roads and overall difficult conditions for the fifth and final stage with the tricky final kilometres through the steep and narrow streets of Coin.
The overall strategy of sport directors Harald Morscher and Vladimir Miholjević was to do everything possible to stay among the top 10 positions and to retain the high ranking in the team classification.
Just a few kilometres after the start and in line with discussed strategy, Novak joined the breakaway group of eight riders that stayed separated through all climbs: Puerto del Viento (Cat. 3), Puerto de las Abejas (Cat. 3) and Alto de Jarapalos (Cat. 3). The gap between upfront riders and the peloton was about 4.5 minutes most of the time, but heading to Coin, at 130th km, the peloton came 2.5 minutes close to the breakaway group.
Novak stayed calm and focused during the race, and kept good position for the final kilometers, where his eyes were on Tim Wellens and other four older and much experienced riders.
Bahrain Merida team kept a good position in the peloton and showed great performance, despite heavy weather conditions. In the last kilometre of the stage, the peloton came to a little over a minute’s gap to the breakaway riders, but could not catch them.
In the last few hundred meters, Novak gathered all his strength and finished fifth.