Maxim Van Gils took victory in the Ruta de Sol, a competition that the organization would rather quickly forget, as all other stages of the race were cancelled, leaving only the Time Trial.
Initially, the five-day Ruta del Sol was to be shortened to three after the first two events were halted due to farmer protests.
However, the final weekend was also excluded, leaving just a five kilometer Time Trial. These five kilometers rose slightly, with an average of 3.5%. The last 500m were on cobblestones.
Notable performances
Rafał Majka set the tone for the competition, recording a time of eight minutes and 44 seconds, with an average speed of less than 34 kilometers per hour. Many runners fought to beat the Polish cyclist’s time, but Bahrain Victorious’ Antonio Tiberi was not one of them. He improved Majka’s time by 17 seconds, thus taking the lead.
Van Gils takes the lead
Tiberi recorded an impressive time, however, Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Dstny) was close to overtaking him, falling just four seconds behind. That was when Maxim Van Gils, his teammate, managed to dethrone Tiberi.
Van Gils improved the Italian’s time by ten seconds, setting a new record in the competition. This proved too high for subsequent competitors, including Tim Wellens, Wout Poels and Juan Ayuso, who finished in 2nd position.
The Belgian, who has just returned after a 25-day suspension following a fight at the Japan Cup 2023, won with a ten-second advantage over Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates). Antônio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) closed the podium.
Check out the results of the Vuelta a Andalucía 2024
