Mark Cavendish and Alvaro Hodeg were hit by bad luck in their first race of the season.
Clasica de Almeria ran its 36th edition this year, one which was pretty quiet until the last 20 kilometers, when a cavalcade of crashes ended the race of many riders. One of these was Alvaro Hodeg, who was involved in a pile-up and had to abandon the race, being taken to the hospital for examinations.
After being assessed, it has been revealed that the Colombian had suffered multiple abrasions and a wound on his left hand, but thankfully, no fractures. The 24-year-old from Monteria will continue to be assessed by our medical team in the coming days.
A few minutes later after that incident, Mark Cavendish had a mechanical which took him out of contention before the final lap in Roquetas del Mar, the Andalusian town which just a couple of years ago that played host a Vuelta a España stage. With both sprinters out of the equation, it was Florian Sénéchal who stepped in for Deceuninck – Quick-Step, and thanks to a strong effort of Jannik Steimle and Bert Van Lerberghe, took second behind Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos) – our team’s sixth top 3 finish of the week.
“It wasn’t planned that I would do the sprint today, as normally I should have been the last guy in Alvaro’s train. Then Mark too had that problem, so from that moment on it was me who was going to do the sprint. I wasn’t too sure of myself, as I had already lost some energy controlling the race and protecting Alvaro, but I could still produce a good turn of speed and take an unexpected second. I want to thank the guys – Stijn, Tim, Jannik and Bert – who gave me a perfect lead-out, they once again showed how strong this team is”, said Florian, the first Frenchman in 17 years to finish on the podium at the Clasica de Almeria.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
