Pete Kennaugh’s first ever spell in the Vuelta a Espana’s lead might have been unexpected and he himself said he’d “never seen himself in a Grand Tour leader’s jersey in the near future.” But the Briton is more than satisfied with the way the Vuelta’s opening team time trial has worked out.
For Kennaugh (Team Sky), leading the Vuelta comes after he has fought back from a difficult first half to the season, winning the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race and a stage of the Herald Sun Tour, but crashing out in the Tour of California and breaking his collarbone. Then having missed out on the Olympics, he needed to refocus his objectives on the later part of the year.
Kennaugh rose to the occasion and showed he was on the up at the Vuelta a Burgos in August, finishing fifth overall and taking sixth on the hardest stage finish to Lagunas de Neila. Then at the Vuelta, he’s moved up another big level again, although as he said, crossing the line first and winning the Vuelta’s opening team time trial was not something he had imagined before Saturday evening.
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“it was definitely not planned, I’d have been happy if we’d finished within touching distance of first place,” Kennaugh said. “Everyone’s come from different objectives, Rio or me coming back from injury, so I’m over the moon to be in the jersey, but it was definitely not planned."
“For me, it was not the best April, because I always plan to do well in the Ardennes and for some reason, I don’t know whatever, I can’t find my best form, but then I come back up in May and June.”
However, his broken collarbone in the US’s top stage race curtailed that return to top condition. “So I was obviously a bit gutted for that to happen, but it’s a funny old sport, swings and roundabouts and peaks and troughs and all that. So obviously I’ve trained really really hard, done everything for the bike and all that for the last two months, at Burgos I knew was good, I’ve just been putting a bit more pressure on myself. Usually I try to take the pressure off, but I wanted to come into this race a bit more confident and take it on a bit.”
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