Solid start at Ruta del Sol

Team Sky made a strong start on the tough opening stage of Ruta del Sol as Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie) edged a bunch sprint in Granada.

Boudat took the victory in a photo finish with Sacha Modolo (EF Education First-Drapac) second after the peloton reeled in a long ranging five-man break with just over 12km to go.

Wout Poels was first across the line for Team Sky securing a top 20 finish, with Chris Froome finishing in the same time as attention turns to stage two’s challenging summit finish which could play a pivotal role in the Overall Classification.

Earlier, a breakaway of five threatened to spoil the sprinters’ fun with Silvan Dillier (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Garikoitz Bravo (Euskadi-Murias), Txomin Juaristi (Fundación Ciclista Euskadi), Romain Sicard (Direct Energie) and Luis Mas (Caja Rural-RGA Seguros) building a lead which extended to over five minutes at its peak.

A combined effort from Team Sky and Astana saw the time gap dramatically reduce until only Dillier was left. He was then caught in the closing kilometres before a short-lived counter attack from Jon Ander Insausti (Euskadi-Murias) was also snuffed out to setup a bunch sprint.

Brett Lancaster

We’ve got a few cards to play so I’m looking forward to it

Stage two’s summit finish is the same one which Froome won his Ruta del Sol title on in 2015 and while Sport Director Brett Lancaster recognises its importance, he reckons the race could go down to the final stage.

He told TeamSky.com: “I think it will shape GC. It won’t be done and dusted as we’ve got a time trial on the final stage and if Chris is in arm’s length of the lead then you can look at overall victory if it comes to the time trial given his time trialling skills.

“And with Wout in good form we’ve got a few cards to play so I’m looking forward to it.”

Stage one result: