Michael Matthews wins the Castellón Grand Prix with superiority

Australian cyclist Michael Matthews (Team Jayco AlUla) won the 2026 Castellón-Ruta de la Cerámica Grand Prix this Saturday after being the strongest of the group in the demanding final slope, with a slope of up to 12 percent, after completing the 171.7 kilometers, starting in Castellón and finishing in Onda, and where the strong wind was the main protagonist of the day.

Thus, the Australian succeeds the Portuguese António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) as the winner of a race that experienced its third edition after two years of success and is installed on the international cycling calendar as one of the first major events. Although he showed a slight limp at the start as a result of a fall in the Clàssica Camp de Morvedre the previous day, that prevented Matthews from showing off his great pedal stroke in short effort finishes.

The day began marked by strong gusts of wind at the starting line in Castellón that accompanied the peloton throughout the course. Right on the ramps of the first port, Alto de la Coma, the Spaniards Carlos García Pierna (Burgos Burpellet BH) and Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi), the Belgians Jasper Schoofs (Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team) and Kenny Molly (Van Rysel Roubaix), the Hungarian Márton Dina (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort), and the Dutch Enzo Leijnse (Anicolor/Campicarn) took the opportunity to form the breakaway of the test.

That group had almost six minutes of advantage over a platoon led by Team Jayco AlUla thinking about the options of their strong man, a Matthews who won two editions ago at the finish line in Onda. It was neutralized on the climb to the last pass, the Collado de Ayódar, where Morgado launched an unsuccessful attack and which was responded to by the XDS Astana Team, the Italian Christian Scaroni and the Uruguayan Guillermo Thomas Silva, along with the Spanish Héctor Álvarez.

However, already on the final slope, the strength of the Australian helped him win the Gran Premio de Castellón-Ruta de la Cerámica 2026, repeating the victory as in 2024, with the Spanish Pau Miquel (Bahrain-Victorious) taking second place and the Slovakian Lukás Kubis (Unibet Rose Rockets) finishing in third position.