Antonio Jesús Soto was the absolute protagonist in the relocated Vuelta a Murcia on the calendar after solving the breakaway of the day on the Alto de la Cresta del Gallo (3rd cat.), 17 km to go. The home rider, the finish line was located in his hometown of Alcantarilla, was able to celebrate alone a ride in which he had to fight against a group of 14 riders who could not overcome the will of the rider from Murcia who scored his first professional victory at the age of 26.
It meant for his team, Euskaltel Euskadi, the premiere of the season and to return to celebrate a victory 2 years after the one achieved by Sergio Higuita in the Volta ao Algarve on 23 March 2019. Joining Soto on the podium was Ángel Madrazo (Burgos BH) in second place, with Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar) closing the podium.
The Vuelta a Murcia had the weather as a protagonist from 24 hours. The start time was brought forward by two hours so that during the course of the day the heavy rains and storms that plague the Mediterranean coast would not affect the passage of the riders. Even so, the rain made an appearance and accompanied the race during the almost five-hour crossing.
Scheduled for February, due to the health crisis caused by the Covid19, the organiser was able to postpone the event to May and, in addition, to count on the presence of Alejandro Valverde on the start line with one more presence in the competition that is never lost.
As for the competition, the start flag was raised and the breakaway group was quickly formed, which would be definitive. The protagonists were Magnus Sheffield (Rally) and Antonio Soto (Euskaltel-Euskadi) who would go ahead with Gleb Brussenskiy (Astana-Premier Tech), Mathias Vacek (Gazprom-Rusvelo) and Jesús Ezquerra (Burgos-BH).
With 35 kilometres to go, Sheffield and Soto opened up a gap on the rest of the escapees on the steep Alto Collado Bermejo (7.3 km at 7%), reaching the top of the climb with a two-minute gap to the peloton that neutralised the rest of the duo's companions. In the final stage, on the Alto Cresta del Gallo (4.4 km at 7.1%), with the summit just under twenty kilometres from the finish, it was the alcantarillero who would give a good account of his companion on the climb to go solo. At the top of the Gallo the gap was 30 seconds with a select chasing group led by the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA men.
The chase had barely begun. The descent was made with caution, without the gaps moving. It would be in the last 9 km, on the flat to the finish, when Soto's tireless work would be rewarded. The experienced Euskaltel rider did not let himself be intimidated and did his best to avoid being neutralised. It was a battle that would be rewarded at the finish line with an emotional Soto thanking his sponsor for the opportunity given to him three years ago when he signed his professional contract with the orange team. An emotional victory in his hometown, his first professional victory and his neighbours as witnesses of exception.
Mobel Sport continues, for the third consecutive year, as sponsor of the international race and is in charge of making the jerseys worn by the first classified riders who are distinguished with the colours yellow for the general classification, red for the mountains, white in the case of the points classification, blue for the flying goals and the beige jersey for the sporting merit.
The Vuelta a Murcia (officially, Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia - Gran Premio Banco Sabadell) is a professional cycling competition, of UCI Europe Tour 1.1 category. It was created in 1981 as an amateur competition. After four years in unofficial national categories, it became fully professional on the international calendar in 1989.
In its route, it is very common to include the mythical Alto del Collado Bermejo, a summit that usually makes a difference and that since 2004 has been called Cima Marco Pantani, in honour of the Italian cyclist who won the 1999 edition. Since its creation it has had 5 and 6 stages, but in recent years it has been reduced to 3 and 2 stages and since 2013 it is a one-day race, as a "classic". It is since 2019 and with the sponsorship of Mobel Sport, among others, that it has managed to recover the stage race format with 2 days of competition.
Illustrious names appear in the list of winners of the Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia such as Pedro Delgado, Miguel Indurain, a regular at the Vuelta in the years he won five consecutive Tour de France, Marco Pantani, Melchor Mauri, Cadel Evans, Jan Ulrich, Stefano Garzelli, Vinokourov, Lance Armstrong (he took part before his retirement and after his return in 2010 in what was his last Vuelta in Spain before announcing his definitive retirement), Bradley Wiggins, Denis Menchov, Alberto Contador, Nairo Quintana, Mark Cavendish, Philippe Gilbert, Chris Froome, Luis Léon Sánchez and the Murcian Alejandro Valverde, who holds the record for overall victories, four.
