Vuelta a la Región de Murcia: Fabio Christen secures first pro victory in aggressive early sprint

Fabio Christen won the Vuelta a la Región de Murcia one-day race in Spain, beating WorldTour rivals to land his first professional victory.

Christen was alone for Q36.5 Pro Cycling and against three riders from UAE Team Emirates-XRG, three from XDS Astana and a few others, but beat them all with a perfectly executed and powerful sprint finish.

Tim Wellens led out his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Isaac del Toro but Christen jumped before the young Mexican and opened a gap and surged to victory.

Aurélien Parent-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) took second and Christian Scaroni was third as XDS Astana placed three riders in the top five but Christen and Q36.5 took the victory.

“I’ve been waiting a lot for this win,  so it means a lot,” Christen said. “The team did an amazing job into the last climb. I was suffering, it was really hard to stay on the wheels with the other guys. There were three rider from UAE and Astana, while I was alone.

“I knew I had to go from far out but in the last hundred metres I didn’t think I’d make it, my legs were burning so much. It’s unbelievable!

“I knew last season that I had the ability to win a race and I went so close. Finally it has worked out, so I’m really happy. Now we can look forward to the rest of the season.”

How it unfolded

The Vuelta a la Región de Murcia covered almost 200km and included three categorised climbs, with the Alto Cresta del Gallo coming just 13km from the finish and so likely to be decisive.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG lineup included Brandon McNulty, Tim Wellens, Jhonatan Narváez and Isaac Del Toro, making them the team to beat.

The early five-rider break was always going to suffer on the climbs and on the Alto Collado Bermejo after 115km, only José Luis Faura (Burgos Burpellet BH) and José María García (Illes Balears Arabay) stayed out front.

Del Toro and Wellens went on the attack on the Alto Collado Bermejo and were chased by some quality riders, who sensed the race was about to be decided. They were to be proved right.

Wellens and Del Toro were joined by several chase groups on the fast descent and so Wellens attacked again. This time Clément Berthet (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Simone Velasco (XDS Astana) and Eric Fagúndez (Burgos Burpellet BH) joined him, forcing Movistar to pick up the chase.

At the foot of the Alto Cresta del Gallo, the quartet led by just 20 seconds and so Wellens surged away once again, this time riding for victory. Only Scaroni was able to join him but their gap was just 10 seconds as they started the descent and final 10km to the finish.

Wellens had Del Toro, McNulty and the impressive development team rider Adrià Pericas in the chase group, while Champoussin and Fortunato were there for XDS Astana. Christen, Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Nairo Quintana (Movistar) were also there.

The final 10km became a thrilling tactical battle. Labrosse rode for Paret-Peintre and chased down a number of attacks as UAE and XDS tried to form small attacks or control others. McNulty was dropped from the group but UAE still expected to dominate the sprint with Del Toro.

Wellens did a perfect lead out on the streets of Murcia but the Mexican missed the moment when Christen struck out early, failing to get on his wheel, as everyone also suffered on the rise to the finish line.

Christen got a gap of several bike lengths and could see victory was his, the joy of possible victory cancelling the pain in his legs.

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