Tejay van Garderen (BMC) got his 2016 season off to the best possible start as he won his first time trial on European soil on stage 4 of the Vuelta a Andalucia. In a close battle with Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo), he beat the Dutch champion by two seconds while Jerome Coppel (IAM) was five seconds further back in third. Van Garderen also took the overall lead on the eve of the queen stage.

After a disappointing 2015 season that saw him abandon both the Vuelta a Espana and the Tour de France due to health issues, Tejay van Garderen has done nothing to hide that he aims for a strong start to 2016. Earlier this week he claimed to be even further ahead than he was at this point of the year in 2015 and he has chosen Spain as the country to leave an early mark.

Van Garderen already proved his form at the Vuelta a Murcia, his first race of the year, where he dropped everybody else on the final climb but was caught just 2km from the finish. That made him confident that he would be in contention for victory at this week’s Vuelta a Andalucia and after today’s time trial he finds himself in the perfect position to strike.

The first three days had been all about survival for van Garderen and today he had his first chance to deal his rivals a blow in the 21km time trial in Alhaurin de la Torre. He left no one doubting his excellent form as he claimed his first ever victory in a European race against the clock.

However, it was no dominant win for the American as he was up against a very strong Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo) who confirmed his status as Dutch champion with a great performance in his debut race of 2016. The Dutchman was one second faster than van Garderen at the time check but at the finish things had been turned around as he had to settle for second, two seconds off the pace.

Jerome Coppel was aiming for a second TT win after his victory at the Etoile de Besseges and he lived up to his status as favourite by beating long-time leader Maarten Tjallingii (LottoNL-Jumbo) with a time of 27.12. In the end, however, van Garderen and Kelderman were both faster and he had to settle for third.

Wout Poels (Sky) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) were both among the favourites but they had to settle for 6th and 9th respectively, losing 20 and 27 seconds to van Garderen who can count on a very strong team in tomorrow’s mountain stage. Teammtes Brent Bookwalter and Samuel Sanchez both finished in the top 10, with 4th and 7th places repectively. The big disappointment was world champion Vasil Kiryienka (Sky) who had to settle for 16th in his second race in the rainbow jersey.

Unsurprisingly, overall leader Ben Swift (Sky) was off the pace in 28th and as all the top finishers had started the race equal on time, the overall top 10 is identical to the stage result. Hence, van Garderen now leads Kelderman by 2 seconds as he goes into the queen stage. It’s a tough one with category 1, 2 and 3 climbs in the middle part of the race before the riders get to the bottom of the 14.8km climb of Alto Penas Blancas which has an average gradient of 6.2%.

A lumpy time trial

After three sprint finishes, it was time for the GC battle to begin on stage 4 which was a 21km time trial around the city of Alhaurin de la Torre. It was a very mixed course with technical sections, flat sections, small climbs and a final 900m that averaged 4.5%.

It was a sunny and windy day in Spain when Amanuel Ghebreindrias (Stradalli) rolled down the ramp as the first rider. His time was quickly beaten and among the first 25 riders, there were no really fast times.

Tjallingii takes the lead

It all changed when Maarten Tjallingii (LottoNL-Jumbo) powered across the line in 27.40 to take a dominant lead. The first rider to challenge him was Damiano Caruso (BMC) but he was a massive 55 seconds off the pace in second.

Rory Sutherland (Movistar) did better to take second with a time that was 46 seconds off the pace but it was his teammate Imanol Erviti that was the first serious threat for Tjallingii. However, the Spaniard missed out on the lead by 11 seconds.

Good ride by Keizer

Artem Ovechkin (Gazprom) was the next specialist to hit the course and he did well to take third with a time of 28.11 before Markel Irizar (Trek) slotted into fourth with 28.21. Magno Nazaret (Funvic) briefly made it into the top 10 with 29.00 but it was Martijn Keizer who made it two LottoNL-Jumbo riders on the podium with 28.04.

Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis) had a fine ride to slot into seventh and Dimitri Claeys (Wanty) made it into the top 10 with 28.57. Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff) had to settle for fifth with 28.20 before Christian Knees (Sky) posted the ninth best time.

Preidler gets close

Gijs Van Hoecke (Topsport Vlaanderen) created a small surprise by doing the time trial of his life to slot into fifth with a time of 28.19. Paul Martens (LottoNL-Jumbo) narrowly missed out on the top 10 with 12th place and the same was the case for Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) who had to settle for 13th.

Cameron Meyer (Dimension Data) was one of the outsiders for the stage but he looked completely demotivated when he rolled across the line in 39th place. Instead, it was Georg Preidler (Giant-Alpecin) that got all the attention. The Austrian had been five seconds faster than Tjallingii at the time check but at the finish he was 17 seconds off the pace in third.

Elmiger slots into fourth

Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) had a surprisingly good ride to slot into 10th with 28.28 while Jerome Baugnies (Wanty) failed to finish in the top 10 despite having posted the fastest intermediate time, slotting into 13th. Fredrik Ludvigsson (Giant-Alpecin) did better as he took ninth with 28.22.

Riccardo Zoidl (Trek) continued his comeback from a broken collarbone by taking 14th and Nicolas Roche (Sky) was just slightly slower in 15th. Martin Elmiger (IAM) was much stronger as he took fourth place with a time of 28.01.

Coppel takes the lead

Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff) has never been known as a specialist but he continued his great start to the season by posting the 6th best time of 28.08. Louis Vervaeke (Lotto Soudal) and Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) both had good rides with top 20 finishes.

The attention had already turned to Coppel who had been 16 seconds faster than Tjallingii at the time check and he maintained his speed all the way to the finish to become the riders that finally beat the Dutchman as he stopped the clock in 27.12 to go 28 seconds faster. At this point, it had already emerged that Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) was on a good ride and after being fourth at the intermediate check, he slotted into third with 27.40.

Best time for van Garderen

Javier Moreno continued the good Movistar showing as he was even faster with 27.29 which was good enough for second place. However, most had their eyes on world champion Kiryienka but the Belarusian was on a bad day and his time was only good enough for fifth.

Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) confirmed his progress in time trials by posting the 7th best time of 27.56 but he had barely caught his breath before the excitement reached its climax. Having been one second down at the time check, van Garderen blasted across the line in 27.05 to go seven seconds faster than Coppel.

Ludvigsson in the top 5

Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff) did well to slot into ninth with 27.57 before Tobias Ludvigsson (Giant-Alpecin) who had been just 0.1 second slower than Coppel at the time check, stopped the clock in 27.39 to slot into fourth. That started a series of good rides as Ben Hermans (BMC) set the 8th best time before Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) who had nearly crashed, was just 0.1 second slower in 9th.

Samuel Sanchez (BMC) made it two BMC riders on the provisional podium as he posted a time of 27.26 to move into third before Bauke Mollema (Trek) set himself up for a good GC by taking 8th with 27.43. Gianni Moscon (Sky) confirmed his huge potential as he was two seconds faster to push the Dutchman down one spot.

Near-miss for Kelderman

Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) had been fast at the time check and he maintained his speed to slot into third with 27.22. However, less than one minute later he was in fourth as Brent Bookwalter (BMC) was 2 seconds faster.

It was already known that Kelderman had been one second faster at the time check so the excitement was growing as the Dutch champion powered down the finishing straight. However, he narrowly missed out as he was two seconds off the pace.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) had a disappointing ride to take 7th with 27.27 and Wout Poels (Sky) was unable to take another TT win as 27.25 was only good enough for 6th. As Fabio Felline (Trek) and Reto Hollenstein (IAM) both narrowly missed out on the top 10, it was just to wait for sprinters Raymond Kreder (Roompot) and Swift to finish before van Garderen could step onto the podium.