Ineos Grenadiers pale of their staff trial effort on stage 5 of the Vuelta a España and had been unable to hold their lead from the primary intermediate time verify by means of to the road, finally ending fifth in Figueres.
The British staff set out at a blistering tempo, beating the leaders on the first verify, Lidl-Trek, by six seconds, however as they got here by means of the second intermediate level 8.5km later, Ineos had already misplaced seven seconds to the American staff and would lose extra en path to the road.
They finished provisionally second, seven seconds slower than Lidl-Trek, and ultimately lost out to three more teams, as UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Visma-Lease a Bike and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe also finished quicker.
“We tried to go in aggressively, and it was clear that the other teams have a strong lineup as well. We couldn’t maintain it to the finish, and that’s how it was,” said DS Christian Knees to Cyclingnews and Eurosport after the finish, with no regrets over the pacing strategy.
“The plan was to win the stage, so it was worth the risk, and we put some pressure on the other teams there, I presume, so starting off quickly was necessary there. They all knew our times, and they might have reacted, so definitely we would do it again like this.
“It was a really brave ride from all of them. We knew it was ambitious, and we knew we had to do this in order to win today. Sometimes it can go bad, sometimes it doesn’t work out as planned, and there’s no real quick analysis, but I can say all the team rode super well.”
However, it was by no means a disaster day, with GC Leader Egan Bernal solely shedding 16 seconds to UAE’s Juan Ayuso and João Almeida on GC, and eight seconds to the brand new purple jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), solely slipping to tenth general and nicely in touching distance.
Knees hadn’t but spoken to Bernal, however was sure the Colombian nationwide champion was going to be greater than happy with the place Ineos completed.
“I wager so, we solely misplaced 16 seconds, and we’re not far off, so it was day. Clearly, we might have favored to achieve a little bit bit already. Should you intention for the win and get it, then you definately clearly achieve on the opposite, however Egan shall be happy with at present, positively,” he stated, with Bernal confirming his DS’s principle.
“It was an excellent TTT. We began out robust as a result of we needed to go for the win, and we ended up setting a pleasant time that makes us extra assured in our GC bid,” stated Bernal to Caracol TV and Eurosport.
“We’re not distant from the highest spots, and there’s a lot of Vuelta left. The subsequent couple of days will create larger time gaps than this TTT has executed.”
Bernal’s season has already been profitable, with a seventh-place end general on the Giro d’Italia, however after all, as a former Giro and Tour de France winner, Bernal and the staff are hoping for extra than simply one other prime 10.
“I imply, he completed already in seventh on the Giro this 12 months. He is clearly already in nice form,” stated Knees.
“The staff time trial was one other step to maintain him up there, so we succeeded, and we simply take it daily now and see the way it goes. Clearly, we wish to have a greater consequence than within the Giro; that is the final word purpose, and we’ll struggle for that.”
Subscribe to Cyclingnews for limitless entry to our 2025 Vuelta a España protection. Our staff of journalists are on the bottom from the Italian Gran Partida by means of to Madrid, bringing you breaking information, evaluation, and extra, from each stage of the Grand Tour because it occurs. Find out more.
