Ruta del Sol: Wellens wins rainy final stage
Breakaway sticks in Coín
Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) claimed victory on the final stage of the Ruta del Sol as the breakaway made it all the way to the line in Coín. The Belgian out-foxed his companions in a tricky, tactical finale, beating Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac) in the sprint. Victor Campenaerts (LottoNl-Jumbo) was third.
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) kept a watchful eye on Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) to seal his fifth overall victory in six editions.
For Wellens, it was a redemption of sorts after his bold solo effort on stage 2 was hampered by a crash as he tried to upset the climbers.
The Belgian produced a powerful sprint and won clearly from the group of six, after marking the moves in a tactical final 10km.
With little urgency in the peloton, it was certain the breakaway would contest the win. The closing stages saw collaboration in the lead group fly out of the window, replaced by a spate of small attacks and the subsequent soft-pedalling ‘cat-and-mouse’.
It was Wellens who shut down an attack from Nick Van Der Lijke in the final 1500 metres, and he took the Roompot rider’s wheel going through the final bend before unleashing his sprint. Clarke couldn’t get on terms, while Campenaerts, who had been the keenest to break free from his companions, pipped Paterski for the final podium spot.
The peloton came across the line 1:45 later, and while some were sprinting for minor placings, Alberto Contador was not one of them.
Starting the day just one second behind Valverde on GC, there was room for final-day drama but with a bunch finish – especially against a rider as zippy as Valverde – he knew he’d have to settle for second place. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) rounded out the final podium, six seconds down on Valverde.
How it unfolded
It was a wet and windy day in southern Spain, with heavy overnight rainfall having caused flooding in the Malaga region.
The miserable conditions, coupled with the relative paucity of top-level sprinters in the race, played into the breakaway’s hands, and an eight-man move formed after just four kilometres.
In it was: Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), Marco Minnaard (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Garikoitz Bravo (Euskadi), Maciej Paterski (CCC), Victor Campenaerts (LottoNL-Jumbo), Nick Van Der Lijke (Roompot), Simon Clarke (Cannondale) and Domen Novak (Bahrain Merida).
They quickly built up a decent lead, with over four minutes after just 20km.
There were a couple of third-category climbs in the first half of the parcours, with Bravo taking the points on the first and Paterski the second. Georg Preidler (Team Sunweb) cemented the king of the mountains classification thanks to his earlier efforts.
With the second half of the parcours largely flat or downhill, the break stretched their lead out to over six minutes, and visions of a stage win were coming increasingly into focus.
There was no real urgency in the bunch, with very few top-level sprinters at the race, and the breakaway entered the final 30km with an advantage of four minutes. With 15km to go, they still had 2:30, despite some of the members shaking things up with a few digs.
Campenaerts, the winner of the stage 3 time trial, looked particularly keen, and it was he who started to attack again in the final several kilometres, sparking a game of cat and mouse. All the while, the peloton was advancing and going into final kilometres, their buffer was down to around 1:30.
With 2km remaining, Campenaerts made his biggest attack, but it was well marked by Clarke, and a long period of soft-pedalling ensued. The Belgian looked thoroughly disinterested in shutting moves down, and perhaps Clarke paid for his efforts when it was left to him to pull back Van Der Lijke and Wellens.
Wellens played it perfectly in the sprint, capitalising on Van Der Lijke’s early effort and coming through to punch the air in celebration, his opportunism landing him a third victory of the campaign.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 3:58:31 |
2 | Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac | |
3 | Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | |
4 | Maciej Paterski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | |
5 | Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida | |
6 | Nick Van Der Lijke (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | |
7 | Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | 0:01:34 |
8 | Hector Saez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 0:01:45 |
9 | Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida | |
10 | Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
11 | Eduard Prades (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
12 | Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) FDJ | |
13 | Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | |
14 | Javier Moreno (Spa) Bahrain-Merida | |
15 | Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team | |
16 | Daniel Lopez (Spa) Burgos BH | |
17 | Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise | |
18 | Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky | |
19 | Maxime Farazijn (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise | |
20 | Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb | |
21 | Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky | |
22 | José Manuel Díaz (Spa) Israel Cycling Academy | |
23 | Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Nor) Team Sunweb | |
24 | Stef Clement (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | |
25 | Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo | |
26 | Adrian Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | |
27 | Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | |
28 | Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | |
29 | Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky | |
30 | Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky | |
31 | Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team | |
32 | Felix Großschartner (Aut) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | |
33 | Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo | |
34 | Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team | |
35 | Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | |
36 | André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo | |
37 | Antonio Molina (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
38 | Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky | |
39 | Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb | |
40 | Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) FDJ | |
41 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ | |
42 | Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac | |
43 | Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida | |
44 | Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac | |
45 | Stijn Devolder (Bel) Veranda's Willems Crelan | |
46 | Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ | |
47 | Andrei Solomennikov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo | |
48 | Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
49 | Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
50 | Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo | |
51 | Ibai Salas (Spa) Burgos BH | |
52 | Pieter Weening (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | |
53 | Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo | |
54 | Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | |
55 | Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
56 | Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
57 | Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
58 | Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | |
59 | Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo | |
60 | Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida | |
61 | Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ | |
62 | Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | |
63 | Alexander Aranburu (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
64 | Raymond Kreder (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | |
65 | Bram Tankink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | |
66 | Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal | |
67 | Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal | |
68 | Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
69 | Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy | |
70 | Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb | |
71 | Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac | |
72 | Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo | |
73 | Martijn Budding (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | |
74 | David Belda (Spa) Burgos BH | |
75 | Hugh Carthy (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac | |
76 | Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb | |
77 | Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | |
78 | Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie | |
79 | Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb | |
80 | Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb | |
81 | David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky | |
82 | Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team | |
83 | Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie | |
84 | Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie | |
85 | Pim Ligthart (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | |
86 | Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | |
87 | Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | |
88 | Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky | 0:02:35 |
89 | Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team | 0:03:42 |
90 | Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | 0:06:02 |
91 | Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | |
92 | Pello Olaberria (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | |
93 | Daniel Turek (Cze) Israel Cycling Academy | |
94 | Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy | |
95 | Martijn Keizer (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | |
96 | Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ | |
97 | Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise | |
98 | Berden De Vries (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | |
99 | Huub Duijn (Ned) Veranda's Willems Crelan | |
100 | Diego Rubio (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
101 | Jorge Arcas Peña (Spa) Movistar Team | |
102 | Jon Irisarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
103 | Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo | |
104 | William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ | |
105 | Igor Merino (Spa) Burgos BH | |
106 | Gotzon Udondo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | |
107 | Julien Morice (Fra) Direct Energie | |
108 | Leszek Plucinski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | |
109 | Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team | |
110 | Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida | |
111 | Aydar Zakarin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo | |
112 | Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie | |
113 | Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:06:11 |
114 | Yohann Gene (Fra) Direct Energie | |
115 | Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac | |
116 | Roman Maikin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo | |
117 | Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy | 0:10:38 |
118 | Ruben Pols (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise | |
119 | Alvaro Robredo (Spa) Burgos BH | |
120 | Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | |
121 | Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Cycling Academy | |
122 | Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | |
123 | Mark Mcnally (GBr) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | |
124 | Jens Wallays (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team | 17:12:23 |
2 | Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo | 0:00:01 |
3 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ | 0:00:06 |
4 | Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky | 0:00:21 |
5 | Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky | 0:00:45 |
6 | Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky | 0:00:48 |
7 | Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ | 0:00:52 |
8 | Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac | 0:01:29 |
9 | Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida | 0:01:48 |
10 | Javier Moreno (Spa) Bahrain-Merida | 0:01:50 |
11 | Pieter Weening (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | 0:01:57 |
12 | Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb | 0:02:04 |
13 | Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky | 0:02:27 |
14 | Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:03:46 |
15 | Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb | 0:03:47 |
16 | Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:03:53 |
17 | Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo | 0:04:13 |
18 | Stef Clement (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:04:29 |
19 | Eduard Prades (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 0:04:48 |
20 | Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:04:52 |
21 | Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb | 0:04:59 |
22 | Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Nor) Team Sunweb | |
23 | Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | 0:05:12 |
24 | Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | |
25 | Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | 0:05:25 |
26 | André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo | 0:05:29 |
27 | David Belda (Spa) Burgos BH | 0:05:36 |
28 | Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | 0:06:13 |
29 | Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:08:04 |
30 | Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | 0:08:19 |
31 | Nick Van Der Lijke (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | 0:08:33 |
32 | Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:08:53 |
33 | Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:08:56 |
34 | Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:09:42 |
35 | Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | 0:09:56 |
36 | Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:09:57 |
37 | Hector Saez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 0:10:09 |
38 | Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | 0:10:14 |
39 | Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo | 0:10:38 |
40 | Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:11:26 |
41 | Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | 0:11:39 |
42 | Hugh Carthy (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac | 0:12:00 |
43 | Martijn Budding (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | 0:12:29 |
44 | Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ | 0:13:00 |
45 | Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:13:32 |
46 | Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal | 0:13:46 |
47 | Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) FDJ | 0:13:57 |
48 | David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky | 0:14:34 |
49 | Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:14:38 |
50 | Alexander Aranburu (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 0:16:02 |
51 | Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy | 0:16:55 |
52 | Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise | 0:16:59 |
53 | Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb | 0:17:26 |
54 | Stijn Devolder (Bel) Veranda's Willems Crelan | 0:18:06 |
55 | Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb | 0:18:29 |
56 | Igor Merino (Spa) Burgos BH | 0:19:26 |
57 | Leszek Plucinski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | 0:19:27 |
58 | Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac | 0:19:36 |
59 | Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo | 0:19:49 |
60 | Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:20:20 |
61 | Huub Duijn (Ned) Veranda's Willems Crelan | 0:20:25 |
62 | Maciej Paterski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | 0:20:35 |
63 | Antonio Molina (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 0:21:15 |
64 | Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac | 0:21:44 |
65 | Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb | 0:21:45 |
66 | Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac | 0:21:53 |
67 | Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:22:04 |
68 | Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky | 0:22:13 |
69 | Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida | 0:22:14 |
70 | Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:22:43 |
71 | Jon Irisarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 0:22:52 |
72 | Ibai Salas (Spa) Burgos BH | 0:23:11 |
73 | Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:25:13 |
74 | Maxime Farazijn (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise | 0:25:19 |
75 | Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida | 0:25:40 |
76 | Bram Tankink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:25:41 |
77 | Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) FDJ | 0:26:27 |
78 | Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac | 0:26:30 |
79 | Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy | 0:26:38 |
80 | Andrei Solomennikov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo | 0:26:46 |
81 | Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo | 0:26:58 |
82 | Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team | 0:27:56 |
83 | Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky | 0:28:00 |
84 | Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal | 0:28:07 |
85 | Raymond Kreder (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | 0:28:50 |
86 | Pim Ligthart (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | 0:28:54 |
87 | Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:29:05 |
88 | José Manuel Díaz (Spa) Israel Cycling Academy | 0:29:08 |
89 | Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:29:39 |
90 | Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise | 0:30:49 |
91 | Felix Großschartner (Aut) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | 0:30:53 |
92 | Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:30:57 |
93 | Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | 0:30:59 |
94 | William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ | 0:31:40 |
95 | Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:32:00 |
96 | Daniel Turek (Cze) Israel Cycling Academy | 0:32:34 |
97 | Aydar Zakarin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo | 0:33:00 |
98 | Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | 0:33:22 |
99 | Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida | 0:34:00 |
100 | Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:35:00 |
101 | Julien Morice (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:35:02 |
102 | Adrian Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | 0:35:07 |
103 | Daniel Lopez (Spa) Burgos BH | 0:35:48 |
104 | Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Cycling Academy | 0:35:52 |
105 | Martijn Keizer (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:36:02 |
106 | Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo | 0:37:17 |
107 | Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida | 0:37:22 |
108 | Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ | 0:37:26 |
109 | Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team | 0:37:53 |
110 | Berden De Vries (Ned) Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij | 0:38:46 |
111 | Yohann Gene (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:38:49 |
112 | Jorge Arcas Peña (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:38:53 |
113 | Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | 0:39:28 |
114 | Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy | 0:39:36 |
115 | Jens Wallays (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise | 0:39:42 |
116 | Diego Rubio (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 0:39:51 |
117 | Pello Olaberria (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | 0:42:24 |
118 | Ruben Pols (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise | 0:42:29 |
119 | Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo | 0:44:02 |
120 | Mark Mcnally (GBr) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | 0:44:24 |
121 | Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice | 0:45:30 |
122 | Gotzon Udondo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | 0:45:55 |
123 | Roman Maikin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo | 0:46:21 |
124 | Alvaro Robredo (Spa) Burgos BH | 0:47:46 |
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