Three months after a training crash doomed his chances of competing in the Tour de France, Belgian Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) started the season in Spain with his second stage win at the Vuelta a España.

Wellens suffered a serious crash during a training ride the week before the Tour de France, injuring his shoulder, elbow, and knee. He returned to racing at the Tour de Luxembourg and finished a respectable fourth overall, but his Ardennes Classics campaign did not go as planned.

However, with the Vuelta a España starting point immediately after the Tour of Flanders and only 48 hours between the two events south of the Pyrenees, Wellens hit the jackpot twice.

He broke away from a three-man pack to take a solo stage win in the first week in Savignanigo, and on Wednesday he outsprinted Mike Woods (EF Pro Cycling) in a tricky uphill finish in Ourense in a battle of two strong riders from a seven-man pack.

As Woods also told Cycling News, Wellensse was then joined by EF racers, former Paris-Nice winner Marc Soler (Movistar), Zdenek Stibal (Dečuninck-Quick Step), top domestique Dylan Van Barre ( Ineos Grenadier) and other talented players took part in the break and commented that it was very strong. There was also a promising youngster, Tymen Arensman (Sunweb), who was already in third place behind Wellens in the first week.

"I was very focused all day and I didn't want Van Baar or Arensman to get away.

Regarding the complicated battle for the win, which began in the third category about 20 km from the line and continued through the next 10 km of flat and the final 1 km of uphill finish, Wellens admitted that it was challenging, but not impossible to come out on top.

"All my guys in the breakaway group were really strong, so I had a super good tempo all day," the 29-year-old all-rounder recalled.

"Three guys (myself, Soler, and Stibal) got away on the descent and I thought I could get away with it, but the others, including Woods, came back.

Wellens added that if the finish line at the top of the tricky, curvy climb to the outskirts of Ourense had been a little further, Woods probably would have taken the race.

"I knew I had to be first into the last corner. I knew I had to be first into the last corner, otherwise Woods would have passed me."

"I knew I had to be first into the last corner, otherwise Woods would have passed me.

Wellens, who had made a good start to 2020 by finishing fifth overall in the Tour of the Algarve, said that his two wins in the Vuelta had changed his perspective on the season.

"It was a very tough season for me, very complicated. The Tour was a very big goal and I was very happy to come back here because just before that I crashed and got sick," said Wellens.

"It's my first Vuelta, but it's a very special race for me.