Team Emirates win time-trial, Vingegaard reclaims lead at Vuelta a Espana

Jonas Vingegaard reclaimed the overall lead of the Vuelta a Espana on the fifth-stage team time-trial on Wednesday, while UAE Team Emirates-XRG riders Juan Ayuso and Joao Almeida climbed to second and third in the standings.

As the 21-day race arrived in Spain after four stages in Italy and France, the leaderboard was reshuffled with the three race favourites moving to the top of the deck.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG won the team time trial 24.1km stage around Figueres in 25min and 26sec, with Vingegard’s Visma just eight seconds off the pace and Giulio Ciccone’s Lidl-Trek a further second slower in third on the day.

The victory was built on meticulous preparation by the eight-man squad, who spent two days preparing for the discipline in Italy ahead of the Gran Salida, and did everything possible to dial their plan on Wednesday.

Heading out on course for not one, but two recon rides, UAE Team Emirates-XRG ensured that the battle plan was well-honed before they became the third-to-last team down the ramp in Figueres.

The result leaves two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard top of the overall standings, while UAE have Ayuso, Almeida and Marc Soler all eight seconds behind, with Italian climber Ciccone rounding out the top five.

Almeida said the result was a confidence boost for his team.

“The gaps are small and we need to be realistic. But it was full gas for everybody today. It would have been nicer to have the red jersey but we are getting closer and closer to it,” said the Portuguese.

“We knew we would be fighting for the win, but there are a lot of good teams here and we needed to be realistic,” he added.

“I think we did a really perfect job and we deserve this as well.”

Ayuso said: “It’s my first victory in a team time trial, and to do it together, everybody has their own medal, it is super special. Especially the way we did it.

“We did two recons of the course because on the first time we did the recon, we were not happy. We committed to do it again and everybody was super optimistic today. It is a win we deserve.

“We organised in these positions in Italy when we practised it. Then here, when we did our first recon, we were not happy. We did it again and fixed our little mistakes. That is why, at the end, when the work comes out and you manage to win, it is something really special.

“As I said from day one, the Vuelta starts tomorrow [on stage 6]. But it’s super nice to arrive when the Vuelta ‘starts’ with a win, and with a team win. We take this with us, and tomorrow we will see where we are.”

Some 15 national time-trial champions were sporting their country’s colours on the course, where the eight-rider teams needed to finish the race with four riders together.

Team Lotto were the first down the starters’ ramp from outside a giant pink castle decorated with croissants and boiled eggs designed by the surrealist artist Salvador Dali, who used to live in it.

Tom Pidcock’s outfit Q36.5 did better than expected at 22sec on the British rider’s first outing in the team event.

“It’s not bad, I mean, I think we did a really great time-trial. It’s my first as a pro, the first for this team,” said Pidcock, the Olympic mountain bike champion.

“The last 5km was horrible. I kept missing the back. When someone pulls out and you mistime it, then I was dying,” said Pidcock, who dropped to 13th overall at 30sec.

Overnight leader David Gaudu slipped to sixth at 16sec, while Egan Bernal of Ineos dropped from fifth to 10th at 22sec.

The race next enters the Pyrenees with two tough mountain stages.

Agencies