Seewald and Stosek, first leaders of the Andalucía Bike Race by GARMIN

Ariane Lüthi and Amy Wakefield, take the victory in the female category and they dress with the first white jersey

The first of the six stages of the 12th edition of the Andalucía Bike Race by GARMIN took place in Jaén and the Olivo Arena. A journey of, a little bit more than 60km, but with 2.729m, marked with high temperatures and with the spectacular views surrounding Jaén.

The first sequences were fast-paced in the lead of the race until the climb commonly known as “El Pincho”. It was there when Seewald and Stosek (CANYON NORTHWAVE MTB TEAM) made the breakaway. “The start was crazy, but we managed it well. We took the lead in “El Pincho” and in the middle of the climb we managed to open up a gap. From there, we rode alone, without taking many risks to get to the finish line. As a whole, we’ve had good sensations during all of the stage”, said Seewalk after arriving at the finish line.

Behind them, Wout Alleman and Fabien Rabensteiner (WILIER-PIRELLI FACTORY TEAM MX) managed to finish in second position just 1.40 minutes after and Martin Frey and Simon Stiebjahn (Singer Racing Team) were third on the podium, after a very tight sprint against José Días and Hans Becking (BUFF Megamo Team).

Today’s stage was a clear demonstration of intentions, not only from Seewald and Stosek, but also from Wakefield and Lüthi.

The South African and the Swiss, have clearly established themselves in the first stage. Even though their rivals tried several times the breakaway, they waited, so when the race was underway they could impose their pace and break the race. With a very similar script to what Seewald and Stosek did, Lüthi and Wakefield rode the last part of the stage alone to get to the finish line 10 minutes ahead of their opponents Stefanie Dohrn and Lejla Tanovic, second in this stage. Behind them, Irina Lützelschwab and Janine Schneider completed the podium in third place.

After this first contact, tomorrow’s stage will be totally different. Even though the starting line is the same, the Olivo Arena, the directión will be towards Mancha Real, to get to the Sierra Mágina and get to the town of Pegalajar. This will be the most technical zone of the stage. After that, the riders will find an extremely beautiful path that leads to Guardia de Jaén and gets them to the finish line.

STAGE AND OVERALL STANDINGS - MEN’S CATEGORY

Andreas Seewald - Martin Stosek CANYON NORTHWAVE MTB TEAM 02:43:20

Wout Alleman - Fabien Rabensteiner WILIER-PIRELLI FACTORY TEAM MX 02:45:00

Martin Frey - Simon Stiebjahn Singer Racing Team 02:48:31

STAGE AND OVERALL STANDINGS - WOMEN’S CATEGORY

Amy Wakefield - Ariane Lüthi Symbtech / Pump for Peace 03:35:24

Stefanie Dohrn - Lejla Tanovic Canyon Northwave - Allebike Team 03:44:20

Irina Lützelschwab - Janine Schneider Team BULLS / doc.oliday.com 02:44:31