A tumultuous final kilometre on the toughest – closing – stage of the Ruta del Sol saw overall leader Wout Poels fending off multiple attacks to claim his first stage race victory since 2016.
As the road curled its way remorselessly upwards towards the summit finish on the hilltop village of Chiclana de Segura, Poels personally had to chase down surging attacks first from last year's winner Miguel Angel López (Astana Qazaqstan) and then from Simon Yates (Bike Exchange-Jayco).
But as Poels reflected after claiming his second and definitive leader's jersey, earlier during the very hilly stage he also could count on a host of Grand Tour stars to back his bid to claim Bahrain Victorious' third win of the season.
"There was one point when I had Jack [Haig], Mikel [Landa] and Damiano [Caruso] working for me, and I was thinking all three of them have been podiums on Grand Tours, and now they are helping me. That was really special and I really appreciate it," Poels said.
"If you don't have the team like yesterday, then you can't win," said Poels – a reference to the crunch stage where an early mass attack by GC favourites and support riders sank previous race leader Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates).
"It was a really strong lineup here," he added. "We work for each other, and for me taking two wins in two days, I couldn't be happier."
Having finished 15th on the final stage but safely in the lead, the hugs of congratulations as Poels' teammates leaned over the race barriers to celebrate with the 34-year-old as he waited for the podium ceremonies were testament to their mutual delight.
"Wout had an amazing ride yesterday," Haig added. "It's been quite a while for him to have a stage win and a GC like this, so the team was really committed to try and help him do the best way possible, and he won."
For Bahrain Victorious as a team, Poels' victory – the first for a Dutchman in the Ruta del Sol since Joost Posthuma narrowly fended off the late Xavier Tondo way back in 2009 – represented a confirmation of their plans to continue in 2022 where the team left off in 2021, he said.
"We started really well in Saudi where Santiago Buitrago took a win and I think for team it's always important to win early on," Poels pointed out. "Particularly after last year when they were super-successful with all the victories they had."
"It's really nice to be part of it myself and it also takes a little bit of the stress away early in the season. And winning always feels good."
The stage itself, as widely predicted, came down to the final climb, a draggy affair where the early very gentle segments slowly gave way to a steeper, but still not excessively hard, two kilometre finale.
López has won several races with surging attacks on steady uphill finishes, and Poels said that although he had 10 riders at less than 30 seconds to watch on GC, the Colombian was the wheel he was following the closest on a climb that suited López's skill set perfectly.
"I thought it would be a little bit more hectic, at the beginning not everybody was happy with the break so QuickStep closed the gap pretty strongly and then luckily we had the next move under control. It was a big group, but with the closest one in it at six minutes overall," Poels said.
"I think the team did a really good job, they controlled that last climb really well, only that last kilometre was a little bit stressful. I was most scared of López and then there was Yates, I couldn't give him too much room because he has a super quick last kilometre. Also [Cristián] Rodríguez went, but I managed."
After taking his first stage race overall since the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in 2016 – " it took a little while but better late than never," Poels joked – the next stop for the 34-year-old will be Paris-Nice.
He'll follow that up with the Volta a Catalunya, the Ardennes – where Poels won Liège-Bastogne-Liège five years ago – and then the Giro d'Italia. The Tour remains a possibility, but as Poels said, "first we'll do the Giro and then we'll see."
