Ligthart wins Vuelta a Andalucia opener

Pim Ligthart (Lotto-Soudal) emerged from a crash-marred finale to claim victory on the opening split stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia and take the overall lead ahead of the afternoon time trial.

The consensus beforehand was that John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) would be the man to beat on the slightly uphill finishing straight but Ligthart had the nous to take advantage of the confusion in the closing two kilometres in Hinojos.

By that point, crashes had reduced to head of the peloton to around 20 riders or so and, sensing a decided lack of support for the remaining sprinters, Ligthart opted to take his chance with a shade under 1500 metres remaining and he duly ghosted off the front.

“I attacked on a big turn to the right, maybe 1.3, 1.4 kilometres from the end,” Ligthart explained afterwards. “There was a small group that formed at that point but there was no control after the big crash anymore so I had my chance, I managed it and that was great.”

Ligthart finished two seconds clear of Fabio Silvestre (Trek Factory Racing), Grega Bole (CCC Sprandi) and a dissonant group of chasers to take the stage honours. Tyler Farrar (MTN-Qhubeka) had to settle for 5th place, while Degenkolb had too much ground to make up in the final kilometre and rolled home in 11th place.

Sky’s Chris Froome and Peter Kennaugh, as well as Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) were all carefully positioned near the front and out of harm’s way in the finale, and they all reached the finish in the front group. Crucially for Ligthart, however, Degenkolb, Farrar et al were without support.

“I looked around and saw there were only 20 guys left with no control,” Ligthart said. “There was only Team Sky and Contador had some guys with him too, but the rest were alone. I thought if I go now, I’ve got a chance, and I wouldn’t have that if I have to sprint against Degenkolb and those guys.”

The stage was animated by an early break featuring Reinier Honig (Roompot), Christopher Jones (Unitedhealthcare), Ibai Salas (Burgos) and Aleksandr Komin (Rusvelo), but they were pegged back by Movistar’s chase efforts. Sander Helven (Topsport Vlaanderen) then launched a doomed solo attack, but it seemed as though the bunch sprint was inevitable on the run-in Hinojos, only for crashes to change the complexion of the race.

Ligthart’s victory is a continuation of his fine start to the 2015 campaign. The former Dutch champion began the year on a high with victory at the season-opening Grand Prix La Marseillaise and he followed that up with a solid showing at Étoile de Bessèges, where he helped teammates Kris Boeckmans and Tony Gallopin take stage wins.

“This is a really good start to the season with the GP Marseillaise and now here, I can say that my pre-season is already great,” Lighthart said, though he took a pragmatic view of his chances of defending the overall lead in Wednesday afternoon’s 8.2km time trial in Coria del Río, near Seville.

“My chances of defending the lead this afternoon will be very hard with Froome and Contador only two seconds behind,” he said. “I’ll do my best, but it would be a very big surprise to keep the lead. For me the Tour is already done.”

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