Jesper Hansen definitely listened to his manager over past few days being the first too attack today and begin the first continental race of the year. He is followed by Indulis Bekmanis.



With first riders off, another few decide to be brave and attack Uwizeyimana is the latest to attack and hope to catch to the leading bunch of riders.



With the first double ascent of the climb completed the break is finally formed. The break consists of:

Jesper Hansen
Boris Borisavljevic
Tareq Esmaeli
Juan Carlos Riutort
Matthew Crane
Maher Hasnaoui
Indulis Bekmanis
Bernardo Colex
Bonaventure Uwizeyimana




Not much else happens on the 2nd ascent of the climbs. While the break's gap grows to 6 minutes, it is Repsol-Cativen, Grupo Nutresa, Team Vontobel & Bank of Ireland starting to crank it up on the third ascent with 95km to go.



The pace put by the peleton means the first riders begin to drop away from the peleton. All the big names are safely in the pack though.



50km to go and the gap has fallen down to less than two minutes now. With the pressure put by the previously named teams some team leaders seems very much out of place at this moment in the race and will quickly need to move up. Some names hoovering at the back are Fahnret, Jumabekov & Duggan at the moment.



Meanwhile the break has just over a minute with 40km to go, Bernard Colex has been dropped from the break. We are hearing some interesting developments from the peleton so we'll be moving there immediately.



The second to last ascent proved to be a very quick one and cracks developed rather quickly. Unfortunately for some they have missed the split and with over a minute gap and the main group motoring there is almost zero chance of them making it back. We'll be back with the big names that missed out on the selection as soon as we know them.



With the news of many dropped leaders, Team Vontobel and Grupo Nutresa take the lead of the peleton and will try to maintain their gap making it much easier for their leaders Wyss and Kolobnev respectively to get the result they want. Due to the split there is only 40 riders left in the pack.




Meanwhile as the break is about to begin the last ascent and get seemingly inevitably caught by the peleton who can already see them in the distance Jesper Hansen & Boris Borisavljevic decide for the last desperate attack. Team Carlsberg will be pleased with their display today.



We know have the official pictures from the second group who are 2 minutes behind right now. There is some big names that missed the split that will be kicking themselves. These include one rider that the fans will be very gutted to see here.

Yasmani Martinez
Nazar Jumabekov
Jaroslav Kulhavy
Diego Rosa
Markus Fahnert
Jose Vicente Toribio
Mustafa Sayar
Masakazu Ito
Wilson Marentes
Bjorn Selander
Brice Feillu
Timothy Duggan
Benjamin Dyball
Cameron Wurf
Chris Anker Sørensen
Jaroslaw Dabrowski
Florian Bissinger
Mauricio Ardila

Many teams miss out completely, Team Once, TomTomTom, Live Nation, Siam and Azteca seem to be hit the most with no riders present in the front group. This is definitely not the start those teams were hoping on. They will need to work together, but it looks very unlikely anything can happen for this group now.



Final ascent begins. 12km to go. As soon as we begin climbing the break is instantly swallowed by the pack lead by the Nutresa duo of Valencia and Fonte. Capable of leading on their own, they are putting some pace at the front now. 3 minutes gap to the second peleton now.
Since we mentioned all the names that missed out, let's see some of the biggest names present in this leading group:

Jose Mendes
Connor McConvey
Aleksandr Kolobnev
Cesar Andre Fonte
Juan Pablo Valencia
Marcel Wyss
Gracjan Lejman
Phillip Gaimon
Vegard Robinson Bugge
Joshua Edmondson
David Vitoria
Sergey Firsanov
Grega Bole
Martin Schoffmann
Mauricio Soler
Michael Rodriguez Galindo
Diego Milan
Sergio Godoy



11km to go and it's Phillip Gaimon who attacks! The peleton looks hesitant and no one follows him enabling him to open a gap. The first climb is almost done, before a quick descent and final brutal climb to the finish!



With a gap opening quickly Lejman decides that enough is enough and attacks in order to close the gap. He's followed by Vitoria, Wyss & Bugge.




Gaimon hits 15% as the attack by Lejamn & Co. was closed down. Gaimon however maintains a 40 second gap, but looks to be suffering on the last climb before the finish, can he maintain the lead and enter the last 5km's with an advantage over others?



He does! And is flying! 6km to go and he maintains the gap of 40 seconds on the pack.



The remains of the peleton are not slacking either with Bank of Ireland rider pushing intense pace at the front. Some riders will not be well positioned as we are closing to the finishing climb.



No wonder the pace is intense! Its the man himself, Jose Mendes leading the favoruites. He's followed by what is expected to be his arch rival this season, Kolobnev. Wyss and Bugge are following closely as well!




3km to go and the pack can see both the final climb and Gaimon who actually increases his gap to 52 seconds, but with the tough finish that can quickly disappear.

Nutresa have the best position with Valencia and Fonte sheltering Kolobnev. Mendes is there too with McConvey looking strong too.
Wyss and Bugge haven't been doing much in the race but shadowing those two teams, they could spring a surprise in both of them.
Kiserlovski is desperately trying to bring Bole to the front, if he manages to do so, surely he will be the favoruite if they manage to catch Gaimon. Lejman and Godoy trying to manage get to the front as quickly as possible too.



The climb has started and Gaimon looks as relaxed as possible at this moment. 2km to go with 47 seconds! He is at the moment doing it for In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan! What a win that would be.



1.5km to go and Wyss is the first big favoruite to attack! He's rather interestingly followed by Bugge! It seems those two had it planned from the start!



Wyss seems by far the strongest opening a gap between himself and Bugge. Bugge's last move was instantly countered by Kolobnev, McConvey and Lejman.

Mendes stay at the front, but decides not too attack. With McConvey on attack instead, it's an interesting tactic, but with less than 1.5km to go will it pay off?



Gaimon hits the flame rouge with 38 seconds gap! It's decreasing, but is it decreasing fast enough for Philip to get caught? Wyss is beginning tu struggle a bit and his gap to other attackers is getting smaller.



With Gaimon and 5 pursuers up the road the small pack seems to be bucnhed up and ready for the final sprint up the climb! Vitoria and Edmondson seem to begin their attacks here! Bole is up there too, but is this finish to steep for his abilities? Repsol with three riders seems to have the depth but with no attacks they might miss out on big points.



Gaimon can see the finishing line! The favoruites seem to be closing, but he is still looking okay at the moment! Last few strokes of pedals and he'll take a monumental win for the team in their debut race!



Kolobnev timed his attack well and flies past Wyss who is strugglin a bit. If Gaimon will be stopped from winning this classic it will be Aleksandr that can stop him! Looks like battle for 3rd will be interesting with Wyss weakening.



100 metres and Gaimon seems to be raising his hands in celebrations! Kolobnev looks defeated while Wyss seems to get second wind and catches to the Russian a bit.



Vitoria, Edmondson and Mendes are leading the small bunch behind the 6 leaders on the road. It seems they will sprint for the line, which after such a gruelling race might prove to be rather difficult!



Gaimon doesn't even celebrate! Clearly he's just too tired after this effort! But one thing is sure - he is the winner of the Classico San Cristobal! A brave attack is rewarded!




Kolobnev takes second, a very respectable place in his first outing in the team. Marcel Wyss completes the podium with smart racing today.

While a gamble for a PCT team to enter the unpredictable CT races - it definitely payed off today with Lejman taking a fantastic 4th place. If he can repeat such results he will surely be a key to team's survival.

Bugge with a good start to promotion hopefuls Risa and Connor McConvey wtih slightly surprising 6th beating his team leader, Mendes.



Mendes wins the sprint out of the small bunch for the 7th place, maybe not what he hoped for, but 6th and 7th is a decent points haul for the Irish team!

The youngster Joshua Edmondson takes a brilliant 8th place, a bright future for him Vitoria with respectable 9th place, especially after being isolated after the split, this should compensate for loosing Fahrnet early on.

Fonte and Valencia on 11th and 12th make it even better day for Nutresa! Russian champion Firsanov will be happy with his first outing with the new team and that shiny national jeresy. Bole found the finish too tough, but 14th is not too bad here. Schoffmann 15th place will make it even better day for their manager who did well today without being one of big favoruites.
Godoy slightly disappointing in 17th, but he lacked a punch to finish better.



Some riders have attacked from the split bunch catching up with some dropped riders from the main group. Jaroslav Kulhavy being the best finisher out of the rides that missed the split, a good sign for future, but also dissapoiting leaving a question what he could have done today.