With two wins in Spain already deposited for this early spring, Team AlUla Jayco looks to continue their Spanish conquests at Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Del Sol, February 14-18. US rider Lawson Craddock makes his season debut to drive the ‘engine room’, and support GC efforts of Alessandro De Marchi.
For Craddock, the year begins his 14th professional season, and 11th on the WorldTour level. The 31-year-old Texan had proven his versatility in stage racing for Team Giant then EF Education before moving to Jayco in 2022. It never seemed to disturb his quiet demeanour when his role was described as a support rider. The two-time US Pro time trial champion said you may not see him ‘put up my hands at the end of the day’ but that’s not what drives him.
“The team considers me to be part of their engine room, which is a group of guys that the team will put into really any kind of race or situation. It’s kind of the group of guys that do the grunt work, the dirty work, you know, riding the front, spending a lot of time in the wind, being there late for the leaders,” Craddock told Cyclingnews from his home in Texas before beginning his third season with Jayco AlUla in Spain.
“The team definitely puts a lot of emphasis on that group of riders, and the guys that we consider the engine room have a lot of fun, working for each other. We’re really fortunate that we’re on a team that has such great leaders. We have guys that can win across any stage, really. Whether you’re the leader or part of the engine room, that role is appreciated from top to bottom.”
So far this year, Craddock’s teammates have proved his point about winning just about anywhere. Among the sprinters, Dylan Groenewegen won Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana 1969 and Michael Matthews followed the next day with an uphill victory at Gran Premio Castellón. At the AlUla Tour, Simon Yates grabbed the GC with a hilltop victory on the fifth and final day of racing, while Caleb Ewan took the win on stage 1 of the Tour of Oman.
It’s the first time Craddock has lined up for the five-day stage race in southern Spain, which has been around for 99 years. It’s one of the early-season events where the warm weather and varied terrain provide a solid measurement of winter training and assessment for the upcoming Classics. Last year Tadej Pogačar won the overall, and this year his teammates Tim Wellens and Juan Ayuso led the charge for UAE Team Emirates.
The 2024 Ruta Del Sol kicks off with a very…
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