'Aerobeast' Felix Gall keeps a revitalised Onley at bay despite jokes about his time-trial form

The competition might have been hoping for another disastrous day for Felix Gall on a time trial bike, but the Austrian from Decathlon CMA CGM put up a valiant fight in Stage 18 of the Vuelta a España. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) was the strongest general classification contender, and red jersey wearer Enric Mas (Movistar) also impressed. Behind them, Gall kept his closest rival at bay.

Gall finished 26th in a flat time trial of just over 32 kilometers, despite jokes about his posture along the way. He was just 2 seconds slower than Richard Carapaz, the No. 4 rider in the general classification riding for EF Education-EasyPost. Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS), who finished fifth, gained 36 seconds, but had already lost so much time in this Vuelta that he remains in the same position.

"I did well and didn't make any mistakes," Gall concluded with satisfaction afterward. He saw Roglic leapfrog him into second place in the standings, but the Slovenian has only a 1.24-minute lead over Gall. “I did what I could, and I might have expected to lose more time to Roglic.”

In third place in the general classification, Gall still has everything to play for in the final two mountain stages on Friday and Saturday. He can still dream of second place, now that he has a lead of more than 2 and 3 minutes over Carapaz and Onley. “A lot is still possible, that’s for sure. We’ll see how we feel, because everyone will be tired. I’m healthy and feeling good, so I’m fully focused on the last three days.”

It was a good day for Onley. The young Brit from INEOS was the third-strongest general classification contender in the results and moved within a minute of Carapaz for fourth place. He also doubled his lead in the young rider classification over Jakob Omrzel of Bahrain Victorious. “I don’t like time trials, but that’s how I started my career,” he said after Stage 17.

Onley had already indicated after Wednesday’s stage that he was back in good form—for the second time in this race. He had been sick during the first week, before making a strong comeback. However, after a crash in the second week, his body needed a little time to get back to peak performance. “I enjoy the process of a time trial, but it’s not my strongest suit.”

Still, Onley can at least dream of a fourth-place finish—and of wearing the white youth jersey in the stages to come.