Campenaerts wins time trial as Valverde reclaims overall Ruta del Sol lead

CTT

Victor Campenaerts (LottoNL-Jumbo) has won the stage 3 time trial at the Ruta del Sol as Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) failed to defend his red jersey. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) is the new overall leader.

Belgian Campenaerts needed just 14:55 to complete the 11.9km time trial. Valverde came close, needing just one second more than the stage winner, while race leader Alberto Contador clocked the third time at seven seconds from Campenaerts and six seconds behind Valverde.

Valverde now leads Contador by no more than a second with two stages still to go. Thibaut Pinot started the day in second place but moves down to third place after setting the fourth time in the time trial.

“The two days coming now should be easier than the three we’ve covered so far. I was keeping in my mind that the man in red at the end of today’s TT was all but certain to win overall, but Alberto is now sitting only one second behind, Sunday’s ride could be a wet one… We should wait before saying this has been won. I’ve got a great team by my side and we must keep attentive because, even though the routes don’t seem to be difficult, things can change in an instant.”, said Valverde.

“One second is nothing. You can’t feel calm, even less so with Alberto Contador behind you. He’s a man of strategy and proved to be really strong today, too. Before we get to the finish on Sunday, the race is not won at all. I’m showing I’m dong well over every course: I won stage one, took 3rd yesterday, came incredibly close to winning today…

“Obviously, the 100th victory I seemingly will get tomorrow makes me really happy, but the most important thing for me is that I’m close to turning 37 and I’m feeling as strong, or even stronger, than prior. That helps me keep the same motivation when I go training, and it makes sure I can still make my fans happy. I feel more secure about what I can do, I feel no pressure as I’ve won many things in my career – it all makes it easier.”

Vuelta a Andalucia 2017 – stage 3 results (Lucena – Córdoba ITT):

1	Victor Campenaerts (LottoNl-Jumbo)	0:14:55
2	Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)	+01”
3	Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo)	+07”
4	Thibaut Pinot (FDJ)	+09”
5	Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo)	,,
6	Wout Poels (Team Sky)	+16”
7	Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal)	+20”
8	Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky)	+21”
9	Tobias Ludviggson (FDJ)	+25”
10	Mathias Brandle (Trek-Segafredo)	+28”

General classification after stage 3:

1	Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)	9:01:34
2	Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo)	+01”
3	Thibaut Pinot (FDJ)	+06”
4	Wout Poels (Team Sky)	+21”
5	Diego Rosa (Team Sky)	+45”
6	Mikel Landa (Team Sky)	+48”
7	Sebastien Reichenbach (FDJ)	+52”
8	Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac)	+01’29”
9	Ondrej Cink (Bahrain Merida)	+01’48”
10	Javier Moreno (Bahrain Merida)	+01’50”