18 Feb 2018

De La Cruz victorious as Poels moves up

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David De La Cruz sealed his first victory for Team Sky by comfortably winning the final stage time trial at Ruta del Sol as Wout Poels moved up to finish second overall.

De La Cruz finished with a time of 17'11" on the 14km course around Cadiz, with Poels finishing sixth - 11 second back - which saw him overtake Mikel Landa (Movistar) to finish second overall.

However, the Dutch rider was only able to make up three of the 11 seconds he needed to overtake race winner Tim Welens (Lotto-Soudal) who took the overall title.

The result did see Poels earn the yellow points jersey, while countryman Dylan van Baarle was the third Team Sky rider in the top 10, finishing 12 second behind De La Cruz.

David De La Cruz

It’s a really special feeling to take my first victory with Team Sky.

De La Cruz told TeamSky.com: “It’s a really special feeling to take my first victory with Team Sky.

“Yesterday I felt really good during the stage, but in the end it didn’t really work out how we wanted, but we worked really well as a team

“This morning I wanted to do the best I could do and I didn’t know if I could take the victory or not.

“I felt good warming up and I said to myself, ‘David, you must go full gas’ and it’s really nice to have my first win in Team Sky colours.”

De La Cruz finished an hour before Wellens, who was the last man out on course, and he described the anxious feeling of sitting atop the provisional podium for the stage.

He added: “You always expect the next rider finishing to record a faster time than you - it was a really nervous situation for an hour!

“It was really good to beat some really strong TT riders too.”

The win has come relatively early in De La Cruz’s Team Sky career, but he was pleased with his early season form and getting to know his new teammates.

“It has been an amazing week, the first time I’ve ridden with Chris and his group, the Tour de France group, and it has been a really nice experience, I’ve learned a lot with this team, he continued.

“I was quite surprised at how relaxed it is and I’m super happy with how everything is going.”

Wout Poels

It’s really nice for the confidence to have a good week of racing and some good results here.

Poels was disappointed not to have knocked Wellens off top spot on the final stage, but was encouraged by his overall performance so early in the season.

He said: "I started well - I won the second stage, had two days in the leader’s jersey and finished second on GC. It’s not too bad. Unfortunately I didn’t win overall, but that’s racing.

“Sometimes straight away I’m good in the first race of the year but this year I needed Valencia to be in better shape. It’s really nice for the confidence to have a good week of racing and some good results here.”