It is manner too early to speak about a showed trade of spirit inside of Ineos Grenadiers in 2025, and Michal Kwiatkowski’s victory within the Clásica Jaén was once no less than in part overshadowed by way of the fear for teammate Egan Bernal following his dangerous past due crash. However because the 34-year-old Polish racer mentioned, too – having the ability to triumph by myself after a 60-kilometre breakaway and with opponents snapping at his heels all of the approach to the road, stays an excessively particular second all of the similar.
Moreover, Kwiatkowski mentioned, at this time in Ineos Grenadiers – found in numbers all over the race at the entrance, and with new teammate Axel Laurance underlining their luck with a 5th position on the end in Jaén – “riders are greedy to win.”
“The team was supermotivated today, everybody was working hard, each rider and team member,” Kwiatkowski mentioned. “I think if it wasn’t me today, someone else from our team would have taken the victory, they were all really motivated.
“I noticed everyone was once grasping to get the win, the workforce had been serving to me out at the radio as smartly. So this win is for they all as smartly.”
Kwiatkowski was repeatedly asked about Bernal after the Colombian’s dramatic late crash, but post-race winner’s ceremonies and interviews meant he could initially add little beyond expressing concern for his teammate and wishing him a speedy recovery.
He also pointed out that Bernal had been in top condition during the race, too, before his untimely exit some 12 kilometres from the line.
Ineos Grenadiers later confirmed that Bernal sustained a broken collarbone in the crash and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
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“I should not have any updates on him, I simply noticed that he was once flying nowadays,” Kwiatkowski told reporters.
“From sector two [of gravel] onwards he was once seeking to explode the race, so I simply went one time however he was once prepared and in a position to head as smartly. Now – I simply hope he’s all proper.”
Kwiatkowski himself had some bad luck, puncturing twice early on. But the inherent risks in any off-road race, he said, were also part of his motivation to try and go clear from distance.
“I did the recon on Sunday and I may see that it was once so sketchy, it was once a lot more uncomplicated to be away early on. I knew I did not need to be in a large peloton in sector 3, particularly, as a result of there was once the potential for crashing.
“Together with Brandon” – McNulty (UAE Staff Emirates), with whom he broke away early on, just for the American to puncture within the finale – “we took the risks together and we had a common goal.
“It was once higher to be away early on, so you’ll want to tempo your self extra, cross tougher after which ease again somewhat extra when the street allowed. However I do know Egan crashed lovely arduous, too, so it was once a kind of races the place you by no means know what can occur.”
Kwiatkowski had the potentially unlucky race number 13, something he said had almost certainly never happened in his career, which began as a road pro way back in 2010 with Caja Rural in Spain. “I mentioned to myself this wasn’t a race the place I sought after to have dangerous good fortune, however perhaps the ones two punctures early on had been after I were given my dangerous good fortune out of the way in which.”
There were also moments where fortune appeared to be on his side when McNulty punctured late on. But as Kwiatkowski pointed out, it was difficult to know what that turn of events really meant in terms of his own chances, although he certainly knew that it would mean a much more insistent chase by UAE.
That heightened pursuit, certainly materialised, in the shape of a rampaging Isaac del Toro who came within less than a minute of the Pole by the finish. But on this occasion, Kwiatkowski, a former winner of Strade Bianche in 2017 and in 2014, had the form and racecraft to stay out front.
“I knew that they had the numbers with [UAE racer] Tim Wellens too, to start out chasing and that made me extra scared than I have been about having to overcome McNulty in a dash,” Kwiatkowski mentioned.
“It is dangerous good fortune, from time to time that occurs. From the glance of it, McNulty did not know the corners in addition to I did, both. However after all, that is racing for you.”
For Kwiatkowski in any case, after 18 months without a win and a 2024 season that was poleaxed mid-way through because of a back injury, claiming his first victory since a stage of the 2023 Tour de France was too good an opportunity to miss.
“Nowadays I am not successful so frequently,” Kwiatkowski – a former World Champion who has triumphed in Milan-San Remo and Amstel Gold (twice) in his time – pointed out.
“To get this victory I needed to paintings arduous for a long time after my damage,” he added.
“Within the final two months, I have been in Australia coaching and racing and I used to be intended to be with my circle of relatives, there. However my daughter was once in poor health, so as an alternative I used to be lacking them and so they had been lacking me.
“So there have been a lot of sacrifices, too, and I’m sure my family were getting emotional as well at home when I won.”
On the similar time, on the subject of his squad, after a lacklustre 2024 and a number of hypothesis the crew was once discovering it tough to copy earlier luck, some early triumphs in 2025 are greater than welcome for Ineos as smartly.
However as Kwiatkowski put it, “You can see they [his teammates] are hungry to win races. And you have to be patient, not look at the future or past and sooner or later it pays off.
“You simply have to take a look at other coaching, other approaches, from time to time it really works, from time to time now not, however it is a lengthy procedure and this victory is a affirmation that we’re going smartly. We ignored out on a victory in Australia however now – we simply need to stay going.”
