Double delight for UAE Team Emirates in Europe
Covi and McNulty finish 3rd in Vuelta Andalucia and Volta Algarve respectively
On the final day of the Vuelta Andalucia, Alessandro Covi showed great determination to fight to a 3rd place on the hilly finish on Stage 5 from Huesa to Chiclana de Segura (146.4km).
The Italian Covi caps off a great week which saw him clinch a stage victory and wear the leaders yellow jersey. Covi takes the green points jersey for his efforts throughout the week.
Elsewhere in Europe, Brandon McNulty continued his strong run with 3rd place on the fifth and final stage of the Volta Algarve from Lagoa to Malhão (173km).
The 23 year old hit out with a powerful attack for the line with 300 metres to go, just being passed in the end by Dani Martinez (Ineos-Grenadiers) and stage winner Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe).
Race winner
His performance today brings him up to 2nd place in the general classification behind overall race winner Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl).
McNulty said, ”Coming into this week the plan was to go for the GC and finishing on the podium was definitely a goal. All credit to Evenepoel, he put in a good ride.The guys from the team did an awesome job looking after me and the racing was really good all week. I emptied the tank on that last climb today and managed to move up a place on the GC so no regrets . I’ll take a little bit of a break now and build up to the next big goal which will be Paris-Nice.”
Meanwhile in the Middle East, the UAE Tour got underway with the team back on home soil. The first stage finished in a hotly contested bunch sprint with the team’s fastman Pascal Ackermann finishing in top 10 and Tadej Pogacar finishing safely in the bunch to keep his GC hopes on track.
Vuelta Andalucia stage 5 results
1.Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) 3:43:05
2.Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa) +4’’
3.Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) +10’’
Vuelta Andalucia Final classification
1.Wout Poels (Bahrain- Victorious) 20:51:27
2.Cristian Rodriguez (Total Energies) +14’’
3.Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) +15’’
14.Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) 5’21’’
Volta ao Algarve stage 5 results
1.Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) 4:14:53
2.Daniel Martinez (Ineos-Grenadiers) s.t
3. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +1’’
Volta ao Algarve final classification
1 Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) 19:35:03
2. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +1’25’’
3.Dani Martinez (Ineos-Grenadiers) +1’21’’