Tejay Van Garderen wins the time trial in Vuelta a Andalucia

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.

The American set a time of 27:05 for the 21km time trial around Alhaurin de la Torre , beating Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo) by two seconds, with Jerome Coppel (IAM Cycling) third at seven seconds. BMC teammate Brent Bookwalter finished fourth at 15 seconds.

Van Garderen will now defend his leader’s jersey on Sunday’s stage that finishes atop the Peñas Blancas climb near Estepona.

“It’s a big confidence booster but we definitely have our minds firmly set on tomorrow. It’s going to be a tough challenge, but we’re excited,” van Garderen said after taking his first win of 2016.

Vuelta a Andalucia 2016 – stage 4 results (ITT Alhaurín de la Torre – Alhaurín de la Torre):

1 Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) 0:27:05
2 Wilco Kelderman (LottoNl – Jumbo)

+02”

3 Jérome Coppel (IAM)

+07”

4 Brentbookwalter (BMC)

+15”

5 Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie)

+17”

6 Wout Poels (Sky)

+20”

7 Samuel Sánchez (BMC)

+21”

8 Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)

+22”

9 Javier Moreno (Movistar)

+24”

10 Tobias Ludvigsson (Giant – Alpecin)

+34”