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Ruta del Sol - day 4

Saturday, Feb 20, 2016 in Pro Cycling

Individual Time Trial. Fight against the clock – or against yourself, just the way you want to take it. Nobody is around you, just you and your thoughts. It is all about getting the course behind as soon as possible.

This is also the case on stage 4 of Ruta del Sol. 21 hard kilometers that doesn’t allow any rhythm as it gets broke by lots of steep hills. But what exactly is ITT about?

You have to find the right and best balance between aerodynamic and power output. That means your position and your bike has to build as less wind drag as possible and you have to keep the highest wattage you can do.

It was the American rider Tejay van Garderen who performed the best at that day. He won in front of Wilco Kelderman from Team Lotto – Jumbo NL. Our guys had to save energy for the last stage thatwas supposed to get the hardest of all. So it was just about getting “home” in the time limit. Daniel and Damien arrived well and with their routine within this limit, but our young Eritrean talent Amanuel Mengis had a bit badluck, as a mechanical problem took him too much time to arrive in the limit. So he is not allowed to start on the last stage.

But Amanuel performed well so far and learned many lessons in a race like this.