Ewan Warren, the Irish U23 rider based in Spain, has been riding very strongly for his Brocar-Ale outfit in Europe by taking strong stage results and an overall podium in his latest competitive outing in Spain.
Indeed the 20-year-old, who placed 14th overall at Rás Tailteann after coming back from a broken leg last season, appears to be coming into some of the best form of the season and may be in contention for a call up to the national team.
He has been in action at Volta a Castelló, a four-day stage race in Spain, where he was in the top 10 on all four stages and eventually finished 3rd overall. He rounded out the podium behind Club Ciclista Padronés-Cortizo team mates Hugo de la Calle, from Spain, and Pablo Sandino Bonilla from Uruguay.
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While Warren managed to give the two team mates the slip on the final stage, getting into a breakaway group without out and making gains, it wasn't enough to challenge their stranglehold on the top two places in the general classification, though he did move up the standings to fill the final spot on the podium.
However, his performance through the race was impressive as he was off the front, and clearly among the very strongest riders, on each of the four stages.
The opening day of action saw the riders race some 152km from Almazora to Villafames, with 2,300m of elevation gain. That climbing included a 3km ascent, at 10 per cent gradient, crested with 8km to go, where a key move went clear with the Irishman in it.
A group of six riders got clear up and over that climb, catching the day's main breakaway, with a couple of riders from that move able to hold the leaders to the finish. However, a chasing group of about 30 just about caught them on the line.
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Louis Sutton of Aix en Provence had made much of the running up that final climb and went on to win the stage in a sprint from the group, with Warren in 6th place.
The second stage involved 3,000m of climbing on the 137km route from Onda to Castillo de Villamalefa. The Club Ciclista Padronés-Cortizo team managed to place four riders in the six-man breakaway that went clear before the climbing began.
And though Caja Rural-Alea rode hard after them, their efforts only succeeded in splitting the bunch to pieces very early, ensuring there were large gaps through the field, and very few riders left to work in the chase as the stage progressed.
In the end, Samuel Florez and eventually overall winner Hugo de la Calle took a 1-2 on the stage, with two other team mates - Pablo Sandino Bonilla and Daniel Cavia - 3rd and 4th at 1:24 and 2:12.
Behind them, and with the main field having split inside the first 50km chasing the breakaway, Warren emerged as one of the strongest from the bunch; getting clear in a select group. He finished the stage in 9th at 5:11.
The next day, stage 3 took the riders 157km from Sant Jordi to Cinctorres, with 3,300m of climbing on a very hot day. The race was more controlled than the previous day and with one of Warren's team mates up the road from early on, the Irish rider rode defensively for him covering the counter attacks.
The main field once again split on a late climb, with about 5km to go, with Warren among those at the front. The stage was won by overall leader Hugo de la Calle (Club Ciclista Padronés - Cortizo), with Warren 6th at 18 seconds.
The final stage, some 120km starting and finishing in Grau de Castello, with Warren riding across to an early breakaway. Though that group he was in managed to get a maximum gap of about 1:40, the GC teams chased it down and by the finish it was reduced to 30 seconds.
Warren, who was riding for time up front, finished in 7th place, on the same time as stage winner Sergio Geerlings (Valverde Team-Ricardo Fuentes). The time gains he made were enough to move him up from 5th starting the final stage to 3rd in the final general classification, some 4:21 down on winner Hugo de la Calle (Club Ciclista Padronés - Cortizo).
