Fuglsang wins 2019 Ruta del Sol

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Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) won the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta del Sol, finishing safely in the peloton on the final stage won by Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott).

Fuglsang took the race leader’s yellow and black jersey after Saturday’s Queen stage through the Sierra Nevada mountains to Granada and his Astana team was never challenged during the final stage to Alhaurín de la Torre on the coast.

Trentin was given a high-speed lead out by Mitchelton-Scott and then kicked away on the right of the road with 150 metres to race. He had the power and speed to beat Enrique Sanz (Euskadi-Murias) and Carlos Barbero (Movistar).

Following Alexey Lutsenko’s win in the Tour of Oman earlier this week, Fuglsang has continued what is a remarkably successful early season for the Kazakh team, with their sixth stage race of 2019.

“I’m very happy,” Fuglsang said. “My teammates did a lot of work today because we really didn’t want to let this one go.”

Sunday’s final stage was all about Mitchelton-Scott though after Simon Yates, already the winner of Saturday’s toughest mountain stage, took part in a long break through the hillier early part of the day.

Although finally reeled in with some 30 kilometres to go, Mitchelton-Scott took control of the peloton and lead out the sprint, allowing Trentin to time his move perfectly on the uphill sprint to Alhaurin de la Torre and claim his second victory of the Vuelta a Andalucia and Mitchelton-Scott’s third.

“It was tricky because there was one roundabout after another in the finale, but we knew it because we checked out the finish this morning and I said to the guys that the best way to win was to give me a clear run to the last kick,” Trentin said afterwards.

“And that’s what I did. Chapeau to Eduardo Affini, he was dropped, he came back and he did a massive pull to get into the last roundabout. It was really good on his debut, and from all the other guys too, because they were all climbers. When you see a guy like Esteban Chaves pulling for a sprint, it’s something nice.”

A fast final stage

Although the rolling first part of the stage from Otura through the hills of central Andalucia clearly lent itself to a break, the presence of Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) in an early attack was not so expected.

The large move, comprising of Carlos Verona (Movistar), Yates, Grega Bole (Bahrain-Merida); Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Gobert), Nick Van Der Lijke (Roompot-Charles); Joan Bou (Nippo-Fantini-Faizane) Fausto Masnada and Matteo Montaguti (Androni Giocatelli-Sidermec) as well as Lorenzo Rota (Bardiani-CSF), was never allowed too large a gap, with Astana and Movistar combining to keep the margin at under four minutes.

Despite all the efforts of the previous day, Yates was the strongest of the break, claiming maximum points on each of the climbs to boost his lead in the King of the Mountains competition.

Having shed all of his companions by the final categorised ascent of the day, the third category Alto del Valle de la Vida, Yates was sucked in on an unclassified climb. Astana then opened up the throttle to ensure any late breaks were kept to a minimum.

The final series of roundabouts and a strong crosswind made it tough for the bunch to stay together on the exposed, slowing rising roads to Alhaurain de la Torre. But Jumbo-Visma and Mitchelton-Scott managed to ensure the 50-strong group did not fall apart completely.

On the stiff little rise to the finish, Trentin could claim his third win of the 2019 season, whilst Fuglsang took his first stage race win since the Criterium du Dauphiné in 2017.

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