Ruta del Sol: Wellens wins rainy final stage

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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.

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