Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol 2017 – Stage 5 [FULL STAGE]

February 19, 2017
Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol 2017 – Stage 2– Setenil de las Bodegas – Coín – 151,5 km

The Vuelta a Andalucía (Tour of Andalusia) or Ruta del Sol (Route of the Sun) is a regional Spanish road bicycle race first held in 1925. Since 2005, it has been a 2.1 category race on the UCI Europe Tour. The nickname, Ruta del Sol, is in reference to the region’s popular tourist coastline the Costa del Sol.

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.

Results :
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

Fina General Classification
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