Maxim Van Gils took his first victory in the colours of his new team, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, on a challenging opening day at the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol. The Queen stage of the race, stage 1 set the tone for the remaining four days of racing, with Van Gils assuming control of the yellow leader’s jersey, on the same time as Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
It was a strong showing from UAE, who had two out of three riders in the trio that contested the race final, and finished the day with three riders in the top four. Wellens and Pavel Sivakov used their numerical advantage repeatedly in an attempt to drop Van Gils, but the 25-year-old Belgian held his nerve and remained with the duo heading under the flamme rouge.
With Sivakov spent from his earlier efforts in the breakaway, Wellens and Van Gils went head-to-head up the final punchy climb in Cueva de Nerja, a leg-snapping 400m uphill effort which saw the pair separated by just one wheel length as they crossed the line. Sivakov rounded out the podium, with Marc Soler finishing fourth, leading a group of GC favourites that included Q36.5 Pro Cycling’s Tom Pidcock.
Van Gils said after his victory: “It was a super hard stage, and also pretty hot, and I think everybody felt their legs. There was not really a team that can control the race. UAE had multiple leaders, and they were shooting the shot. So I had to anticipate.
“I know Tim pretty well. I know I can beat him in a sprint. So it was just really important to not let them go and try to keep them together and predict everything on my final sprint.
“Today is really special, I was really motivated to start the way I ended it last year. And I'm really proud of myself today,
“[UAE] have a really strong team here. I'm a little bit afraid, but I hope my team can handle it as well.”
How it Unfolded
Following a year which saw the race almost entirely cancelled due to farmers’ strikes in the region, the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol was back in full for 2025, with five rolling stages across the Andalucia region of southern Spain.
The parcours was front-loaded, the Queen stage taking place on day one and setting the scene for the rest of the race. The 162.6km challenge beginning in Torrox and concluding in Cueva de Nerja featured almost no flat roads whatsoever along its distance, with the peloton heading up and down all day, as they rode towards a final uphill drag to the finish line.
There were two non-starters prior to the race – AJ August (INEOS Grenadiers) and Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Emirates-XRG), so 113 riders rolled out of Torrox and it was a group of eight riders which comprised the day’s early break, accruing an advantage of just over four minutes over the bunch.
The status quo did not last for long though, with a series of tough climbs along the profile, and while the break fought it out for KOM points over the first four categorised climbs, they were unable to stay together as the relentless ups and downs began to take their toll on the legs.
Back in the bunch, Q36.5 Pro Cycling took on the pace-setting early in the stage on behalf of their leader Tom Pidcock. Though as the race wore on, UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe added their weight to the chase, and the Emirati side sent Pavel Sivakov ahead as a satellite rider, where he joined the remains of the early breakaway.
At the head of the race, Thomas Silva (Caja Rural-Seguros-RGA) and Andreas Leknussund (Uno-X Mobility) were the final survivors from the early break, but heading into the final 40 kilometres of the race Leknussund moved into the solo lead. Behind, the peloton fractured into several groups as the gradients continued to exact their revenge, with a small group of GC favourites coalescing as the race progressed over the rolling green Andalucian hills and back towards the coast.
Leknussund’s lead sat at 40 seconds from Sivakov and Silva with 38 kilometres remaining, but with the peloton over a minute behind, Pidcock launched an attack to try and close the leaders down, drawing out a select group. The British rider used his daredevil descending skills to briefly gap the rest of the group, but they were able to reel him back in as the road levelled out. The group was 12-strong and as the road began to rise once again, the gap tumbled, with Pidcock, Van Gils and Clement Berthet (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) coming to the fore.
With Sivakov caught, Van Gils led the charge to try to close down Leknussund with 20km remaining, but Sivakov was able to latch onto the Red Bull rider as the pair were joined by Tim Wellens. The trio shut down the courageous effort from Leknussund and moved into the lead on the final categorised climb of the day, the third category Alto de Frigiliana, with a series of small groups spaced along the road behind.
Heading onto the descent, Van Gils overcooked a corner and ended up off the road, putting the UAE pair in pole position. He fought his way back on though and an entente cordiale held as the final kilometres ticked away, and with the chase group unable to close the gap, the victory would be decided among the lead trio. Wellens used two successive roundabouts to attempt to drop Van Gils, followed by a series of one-two attacks, but the UAE duo was unable to shift the confident Belgian, who clearly backed himself on the final drag up to the line.
Results
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