2018 Vuelta a España Stage 16 Results & Recap
Stage 16 of the 2018 Vuelta a España is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Dennis claims second TT victory at Vuelta
Australian champion Rohan Dennis crushed the 32km time trial course, from Santillana del Mar to Torrelavega, today on stage 16 of the Vuelta a Espana. The BMC rider won with a time of 37’57”, 50 seconds faster than second place, who happened to be his teammate and US TT champion Joey Rosskopf. Spanish TT champion Jonathan Castroviejo (Team Sky) finished in third with the same time.
“I tried to control the start and the finish and push in the middle section and in the end it worked out perfectly,” Dennis said. “I knew I was on a good ride just looking at my power. But I didn’t know what Kwiatkowski and the other guys could do. All I knew was Castroviejo’s time and he’s a pretty good indicator of whether you’re doing well or not. To be honest, I think the performance of the day is for Joey Rosskopf (2nd). He’s the best teammate and I’m very happy for him. Everything’s looking good for the Worlds. I’m headed home now to prepare.”
Out of the GC contenders, Steven Kruijswijlk (LottoNL-Jumbo) flew through the course with a first intermediate split that was five seconds faster than Dennis, but the Dutch rider slowed in the latter part of the course, and finished in fourth with a 38’48’’.
Simon Yates retained his red jersey, gaining precious time on his closest rival, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).
“I feel like I’ve done a good TT but rivals like Enric Mas, Kruijswijk, also Yates, have done a good time-trial too,” Valverde said. “The upcoming stages also suit Yates, it’s very explosive. We’ll go day by day, let’s see what comes out of it. I’m 38 years old now. I’m second overall, and with Nairo (Quintana) also up there, we can play tactics and that’s good for both him and me. We’re five (GC contenders) against Yates but he’s demonstrating that he is very strong. Whatever comes out of La Vuelta I’ll be happy. And if I crack someday, I’ll keep looking ahead. To attack from far away, you need to know why you attack, and to be able to make the others suffer. Attacking for the sake of attacking, it’s not worth it.”
Yates is now 33 seconds ahead of Valverde on the general classification and 52 seconds better than Kruijswijk.
“I’m happy with my performance,” Yates said. “I extended my lead so as far as I’m concerned it was a very good ride. I was not worried about today because I’m slowly improving in my time-trial. I’ve worked a lot. I’m not afraid of time-trials and I actually quite enjoy them. But we have a long way to go. I’m wary of the coming stages, especially tomorrow and Andorra (stage 20). It’s still a long road to Madrid. I’m expecting some hard days. Our rivals are still very close. I still don’t know why I cracked on the Giro. I hope not to have a day like that of course but it’s always a possibility. I’ve had a different preparation. I’ve been looking to build form during the race because I also have an eye on the Worlds. I feel about at the same level. The sensations are very good. Sometimes the best defence is offense. It depends of the race situation but if there are seconds to win in the finales I need to go for it.”
Tomorrow’s Vuelta a España stage is a Basque affair. And therefore, almost by definition, mountainous. The race starts in Getxo to end after 157 kilometres in the saddle on a steep climb above Balcón de Bizkaia. The last 3.9 kilometres of the route is a toil at 11 percent.\n
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