Tom Pidcock won the Andorra Classica after a truly spectacular final ascent at Coll de la Botella. The British athlete from Team Pinarello Q36.5 delivered the decisive attack in the final 200 meters that allowed him to cross the finish line solo ahead of Carlos Verona (Lidl Trek) and Sepp Kuss (Team Visma Lease a Bike). This is Pidcock's third victory of the season as he returns to racing after being forced to withdraw from Tour de Suisse a few days ago due to the aftermath of an illness contracted at altitude.

THE RACE. Short but extremely tough, the second edition of the Andorra MoraBanca Classica offered a far from simple course. 125 km from Andorra La Vella to Coll de La Botella, 3,780 meters of elevation gain with climbs of Port d'Envalira, Coll d'Ordino, Les Pardines and finally a 7 km ascent to the finish with gradients of 7.5%. Hard and spectacular roads that represent the home of many athletes in the peloton.

The race ignited immediately after the official start with numerous athletes attempting to attack. The breakaway of the day formed after just over 11 km and featured 15 athletes. Jefferson Cepeda (EF Education EasyPost), Sylvain Moniquet and Yael Joalland (Cofidis), Colin Savioz (Unibet Rose Rockets), Joris Delbov and Fabien Doubey (TotalEnergies), Jose Luis Faura (Burgos BH), Andrea Misfud and Dario Giuliano (Team Polti Kometa), Matteo Regnanti (Solution Tech NIPPO Rali), Joan Bou (Caja Rural Seguros RGA), Pablo Carrascosa (Equipo Kern Pharma), Txomin Juaristi and Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel Euskadi), Alexis Guerin (Anicolor Carpicare). Climb after climb, the leading group lost more and more riders who were caught by the peloton.

36 km from the finish, taking advantage of the gravel section towards Les Pardines, Jefferson Cepeda literally exploded what remained of the leading group, staying alone at the front with Joan Bou. On the subsequent false flat section, the peloton drew closer to the two leaders until neutralizing their attack approximately 24 km from the finish. It was precisely at that point that Julian Bernard (Lidl Trek) launched a counterattack and managed to gain an advantage of up to fifty seconds over the increasingly reduced peloton, pulled by Team Pinarello Q36.5, Team Visma Lease a Bike and Lidl Trek, the teams with the most anticipated riders: Tom Pidcock, Sepp Kuss and Derek Gee. As soon as the road began to climb again, the group significantly increased the pace, catching the leader approximately 5.5 km from the finish. Right at the crucial moment of the race Derek Gee was struck by misfortune when a puncture on his front wheel forced him to change bikes, causing him to lose ground against his rivals.

On the climb, Sepp Kuss was the first to break the stalemate 2.5 km from the finish. Chris Harper delivered a monumental performance, first setting the pace in the group and then bringing his teammate Tom Pidcock back to the head of the race. The British rider then completed the job by launching the decisive attack 200 meters from the finish, winning ahead of Carlos Verona and Sepp Kuss.

FINISHING ORDER

1 Pidcock Tom Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team 03:42:25

2 Verona Carlos Lidl-Trek + 02

3 Kuss Sepp Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 10

4 Harper Chris Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team + 11

5 Tulett Ben Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 13

6 Carr Simon Cofidis + 01:08

7 Murguialday Jokin Euskaltel-Euskadi + 01:08

8 Bernard Julien Lidl-Trek + 01:27

9 Izagirre Ion Cofidis + 01:30

10 Skujins Toms Lidl-Trek + 01:35