Ruta del Sol: Wellens wins individual time trial

Image 1 of 13

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) won the individual time trial of the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol, confirming that he has been working hard on his time trialing skills and giving him a shot at overall victory in the early-season Spanish stage race.

Wellens stopped the clock with a time of 22:25 for the rolling course. He was two-second faster than Jakob Fuglsang, with his Astana teammate Ion Izagirre third at nine seconds.

Wellens' second consecutive stage win cemented his overall lead, with the top of the GC board reflected the stage results. Fuglsang is now second overall at seven seconds, and Izagirre third at 14 seconds. Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) is fourth overall at 18 seconds and so still an overall contender.

The stage looked set to be dominated by twins Adam and Simon Yates, who took turns in the hot seat after setting the fastest times. However they were eventually knocked off the top step, although both remained in the top ten for the day. Adam was fifth at 15 seconds and Simon was eighth at 22 seconds.

The time trial was highly technical, with barely a flat section of road through the olive trees and fields. A steady grind up a category 3 climb lead to a very fast and long descent. The 16.2km route finished with a short climb up to the finish line, with 500 meters of the 1.75km climb at 11.4 per cent.

Simon Yates came into the stage over 14 minutes down but put up an early fast time of 22:47. He was joined on the provisional podium by teammate Esteban Chaves, with a time of 23:38, although the Colombian soon started dropping down the list.

Many riders were visibly suffering and exhausted at the finish, zigzagging across the road to conquer the gradients. A number of riders were on their usual road bikes, rather than the time trial machines due to the nature of the course.

Late on, Adam Yates knocked his twin brother out of the hot seat, giving himself the se best provisional time of 22:40.

The top ten in the overall classification and thus the last ten to race, set off with a two-minute gap. Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) was the first to come close to the Yates twins, at 22:50. Pello Bilbao (Astana) came in at 22:44, in second place by four seconds.

Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) powered his way to the lead with a best time of 22:34.5 to knock the second Yates brother off the top step of the podium. But his time was beaten – by a tenth of a second, when Ion Izagirre turned on the gas in the closing meters to cross the line in a time of 22:34.4.

Then Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) powered his way in with a time of 22.27, only to have race leader Wellens top that time, coming in with a time 22.25.

That gave Wellens his second straight stage win and allowed him to retain the overall lead.

Full Results