"We rode the perfect race" - INEOS impress and Michal Kwiatkowski takes great win as Clasica Jaen Paraiso Interior

INEOS Grenadiers have struggled throughout the past seasons as UAE Team Emirates - XRG and Team Visma | Lease a Bike have taken up the top of cycling. However this Monday at the Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior the tables were turned and the British team took a very strong win, with plenty riders in the first groups of the race that have allowed Michal Kwiatkowski taking the win.

“The last two weeks I trained hard in Mallorca, while my family stayed in Poland. It shows how much I have to sacrifice. This is very important to me. that I am able to win races again," the former World Champion said in a post-race interview, after showing his best legs in a long time. When he was younger, Kwiatkowski was a specialist in the hilly one-day races and won many.

Today, he showed a glimpse of his former self, but in a stronger that races a whole gear faster. The veteran moved off the front in one of the first gravel sectors together with Brandon McNulty and with this, formed the day's winning move.

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INEOS beats UAE and Visma - Michal Kwiatkowski wins Clasica Jaen Paraiso Interior after huge battle in the gravel

“You always have to believe that something is possible. The pace was really high from the second gravel section onwards. I didn't expect that," Kwiatkowski continued. "That left a small elite group. We still had a lot of INEOS Grenadiers riders in that first group. We rode the perfect race. In the final, I decided to go along with an attack from McNulty. I'm proud of how we rode as a team.”

With the American having a puncture in the final 15 kilometers, it left the INEOS rider together with breakaway survivor Ibon Ruiz only, but he dropped his rival to take a solo win - his first since the Grand Colombier at the 2023 Tour de France. He also survived the strong pace of the chaser Isaac del Toro, who led a defeated UAE team home.

"I’ve had a few difficult months. I had a back injury last year and couldn’t race for a very long time. I returned to competition in January. My condition was already quite good there, but not quite good enough to win". With this form, Kwiatkowski will be a serious contender for a result at the upcoming Vuelta a Andalucia which starts in only two days.

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