Mavi García claims third women's Spanish time trial title

Mavi García (Alé BTC Ljubljana) claimed her third Spanish national time trial title on Friday with a dominant performance in Busot. 

The 37-year-old, who won the title in 2018 before doing the time trial-road race double last year, clocked 35:28 on the 24.6-kilometre circuit course to deliver on her favourite's status. 

Sara Martín (Movistar) claimed second place at 30 seconds, which was enough to also land her the U23 women's time trial title in what was a combined field. 

Third place went to another Movistar rider, the 2017 champion Lourdes Oyarbide, who finished 1:19 short of García's time.

The course in Busot measured 24.6km, starting out with a gentle downhill for several  kilometres before pitching up for a false flat that never truly climbed but still sapped the legs. 

García was the pre-race favourite and looked well on course for her third title as she reached the intermediate checkpoint at the start of the climb with the leading time: 11:33. 

Martín wasn't far off the pace at that point but García was able to deliver the power on the false flat section and extended her advantage to half a minute by the finish.

García will now be confident of claiming Spain's spot in the time trial at the Olympic Games in Tokyo later this summer. She is also set to line up for the road race, as Spain seek their first ever women's Olympic cycling medal on the road.