Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale) was the big surprise of the 38.8km stage eleven time trial in the Vuelta a España today. The 30-year-old Italian climber, who has never showed much aptitude for the race against the clock before, finished third of the 186 starters, and was only beaten by four-time World champion Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard) and current rainbow jersey Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step).
“I’m super happy!” Pozzovivo exclaimed when he realised where he’d finished. “I saw the course this morning and I liked it even though there was too much wind for a small guy like me.
“I had excellent feelings on the bike,” the Italian continued. “After I passed the top of the climb, I was told that I had a good time but I didn’t know it was the best time. It’s also due to a choice of bicycle, made purposely to perform uphill. In the windy downhill section, there was no way I could ride as fast as Fabian Cancellara but this result is a huge satisfaction for me.”
Diminutive climber Pozzovivo has seen a marked improvement in his time trialling since moving from ProContinental Colnago-CSF Inox to WorldTour AG2R La Mondiale this season. Until now, however, his best performance at this level has been 19th in the Tour of Poland time trial, where he lost almost two minutes to Cancellara - and 2’52” to stage winner Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) - over a similar distance.
He finished 20th in the flat Giro d’Italia time trial in the first week, and 15th in the mountain time trial two days before the end of the race. On that occasion he finished 2’11” behind new Vuelta leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), whom he beat by a single second today.
“I’ve done the time trial of my life and it motivates me for the rest of the Vuelta,” said Pozzovivo. “If I keep going so well, I can envisage to finish in the top 5 overall.”