No significant gaps between the GC men Thursday afternoon.
The only stage of its kind at the 80th edition of La Vuelta, the individual time trial in Valladolid didn’t bring too many changes to the general classification. Initially, the race against the clock should have been 27.2km-long, but the organisers decided to reduce it to just 12.2 kilometers for safety reasons and take out the small climb on the course, leaving a flat route for the riders to tackle.
Victorious in two time trials this year – at Itzulia Basque Country and the National Championships, the latter less than three months ago – Maximilian Schachmann put in a strong and fast ride on stage 18, stopping the clock in 13:35 after averaging 53.82km/h. The German was our highest-ranked rider in Valladolid, where Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) took the win.
His T-Rex Quick-Step teammate Junior Lecerf did his best to not lose too much time and thanks to a strong ride, the 22-year-old winner of the Czech Tour maintained his 11th place in the general classification with three stages to go, the first of which will take the bunch to Guijuelo.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
