62nd Vuelta a España - Stage 3 Live
Coverage
Another day for the sprinters or will the break
survive to the Luarca?
Stage 3 03/09 Viveiro - Luarca -
155 km
Today the race leaves the
roads of Galicia and enters Asturias en route to the first day of the
climbers festival. But before reaching the finish line in
Lagos de Covadonga, the racers must overcome the 153 kilometres which lie
between Viveiro and Luarca.
Today's stage has difficulties and opportunities enough; as shortly after the
starting line in Viveiro, they will confront the first 2nd category climb of the
Vuelta at San André de Boimente, and three more 3rd category climbs featured
along the way. The last climb comes at 33 kilometres from the finish line where
the riders will race two circuits through the streets of Luarca.
The route today favors the long break over the first climbs for the riders
brave enough to take their chances and open their climbers point account; or
perhaps an attack late in the race on the final climb the cat.3 Babia. The
escapees will have to evade capture by the formidable sprinters teams who will
use the last 35 kilometers to chase down any escapes to ensure one more chance
for a sprinters victory before the race is turned over to the mountain goats.
Copyright Unipublic
The climbing challenges: Santo André de Boimente (cat-2; at Km. 8.6), Cruz da
Campa (cat-3; at Km. 33), Cadeira (cat-3; at Km. 48.7), and Babia (cat-3; at
Km.120).
Weather today is predicted to be mostly cloudy between Lugo and Asturias with
moderate temperatures in the range of 19ºC, cooling to around 16 to 17ºC on the
summits of the climbs. The wind may be a challenge for the riders, coming from
the North East throughout the day.
The 188 riders left Vivero after a 5.3 kilometer circuit of the city's
streets at half past one pm and the initial attacks came at 4 km with Angel
Vallejo launching the first attack with joined by Serafin Acevedo Martinez and
David de La Fuentes (Saunier Duval/Prodir) and quickly took a 1 minute gap on
the Rabobank led peloton.
Serafín Martinez (Karpin-Galicia) the current leader in the climbers
competition, led over the Cat. 2 San André de Boimente climb with Dominguez and
De La Fuentes with two minutes on the peloton led by Gustavo Cesar,
Christian Sorensen and Joost Posthuma taking the remaining points. By the finish
of the descent the trio had 2:30 lead on the Oscar Freire's Rabobank squad who
led the peloton.
By the 29 km mark as the trio started the Cat. 3 Puerto Cruz da Campa the
three riders had a gap of 3:30 minutes.
33 km on the summit of Puerto Cruz da Campa Serafin Martinez led taking the
max points with De La Fuente second and Dominguez third with Rabobank's Marc
Demar leading the peloton at almost 4 minutes back. Oscar's Raboriders look to
be keeping the trio on a three minute leash and discouraging any efforts for
others to join them.
At the 53 km mark, David De La Fuente took the intermediate sprint ahead of
Vallejo and Martinez. The lead has been staying steadily around 3 minutes. The
other teams appear to be in agreement with the arrangement to keep the
leash tight on the trio and use the 33 kms to the finish after the last climb to
set up the sprint finish on the local roads of Luarca.
1621 CET - 83 km left. The three leaders
roll through the feed zone. The riders have a bit of a head wind at this point,
so the lead of the three escapees dips just under 3'. Soon they will turn so
that the wind will be from their left.
61 km left. Rabobank keeps the race under
control. Menchov chats with a teammate a bit further back in the pack, while his
domestiques keep the pressure up for Freire at the sharp end of the pack. Quick
Step has now added a rider to help with the chase.
Koos Moerenhout stuffs his Dutch Road Champion's jersey full of water bottles
and rolls back up to his teammates. He gives one to Freire. The pace is steady,
but doesn't seem too hard yet. Looks like a lot of guys are saving energy for
the first real climbing stage tomorrow.
Lampre now puts a couple of guys into the train at the front of the peloton.
They are still smarting from that crash in the final two kilometers yesterday,
where Bennati lost any hope of keeping that Gold Jersey. He's just out for stage
wins now.
Congratulations to Levi Leipheimer of Discovery Channel, whose two big
attacks dominated the U.S. road championship yesterday. He soloed away over that
last 30 kilometers and just worked over the field. Great job Levi! No word yet
on where the Tour's third place rider will be riding next year. There are quite
a few teams rumored to have interest.
For some reason, Freire is hanging out at the back of the peloton chatting
with Pereiro of Caisse d'Epargne. He just looks to be hanging out, no problem
really. Tomorrow will see the first time splits of any importance. There are no
time bonuses on these early stages of the Vuelta, so most of the peloton is
still at the same time. Tomorrow the riders face that
finishing climb which is listed as "Especial" with some 13% gradients over
about 13 km. That will get some time splits.
The time gap of the two leaders is coming down. With Lampre contributing to
the chase, it is now down to 1' 55". The pack is on a slight uphill right
now. It's a Cat 3 climb supposedly, but it doesn't look that tough. There is
still a lack of panic in the peloton; slowly but surely the gap is coming down.
This is a big ring climb for sure.
1648 CET - 42 km to go. The gap
hovers at around 1' 50" as the trio do the final climb Cat. 3 Babia. Vallejo
attacks for some reason. There was some kind of sprint there, but it wasn't the
mountains points. All our leaders are out of the saddle, but no real
difficulties apparently. Three Rabobank riders are leading the group, Pettachi's
Milram team are well positioned too. It will be interesting to see if Zabel
beats his leader again.
Finally, this climb seems to be getting slightly harder. But not much.
Martinez will be after maximum points again. With only a gap of 2 minutes the
escapees have little chance to avoid being caught before the entrance to the
Luarca circuits.
The peloton will probably leave these guys dangling off the front as
long as they can at this point. They can nail them back whenever they want. The
Mad Milkmen of Milram will have to make some interesting decisions if Zabel
looks better than Petacchi again today. That could sour their milk a bit.
The run-in to the finish doesn't look to be too flat again. Looks more like
yesterday's. They will be riding loops around Luarca, and there is a little bit
of a hill on the course that the sprinters will have to get over not too far
from the finish. Quick Step has come up to raise the pace of the peloton. The
peloton is now strung out. They look to be trying to thin the herd. If Quick
Step can cause some splits here, then they could force some of the sprinters for
the other teams to spend a lot of energy. That will favor Bettini and Boonen,
both of whom can win a sprint finish. The overall average is 35.2 kilometres per
hour after the third hour of racing.
Though if they are going like this on a hill, then they are probably working
for Bettini. The guys in the break are looking back down the hill at how close
the peloton is. Only 45 seconds guys! The team cars are coming up trying to get
the guys in the break watered and ready for the descent. They won't be off the
front much longer at this pace. Petacchi is struggling off the back of the
peloton. Quick Step's pacemaking is doing some damage.
Vallejo and De La Fuente have dropped Martinez on the harder section of this
climb. So two men are about 45" ahead of the pack. They are taking their turns
setting the pace still. Martinez is caught by the peloton.
The two leaders are sprinting for the top of the climb. Vallejo gets it ahead
of De La Fuente. Quick Step is still leading the peloton. Martinez now tries to
attack again from the peloton to get the final mountain points.
1707 CET - 33 km to go. Euskaltel is all
over the front of the peloton on the descent. Why? Who knows. Vallejo and De La
Fuente have been swept up by the Euskaltel-led peloton. Inaki Isasi must be
feeling like he can win this stage if Euskaltel is working this hard.
While we congratulated Levi Leipheimer for his victory as US champ one more
congratulations due to Saunier Duval/Prodir's Scotsman David Millar, who won the
British National ITT Championships. Millar is the double British Champs, as he
had taken the National Road Race Championships early in August. Millar dominated
the 43-kilometre time-trial held in Holmes Chapel, and he clocked a time 1:30
better than Chris Newton (Recycling) and over 3´ better than Michael Hutchinson
(In-Gear Quickvit RT), who filled out the podium.
We will be glad to see Millar riding in the North America with Slipstream and
wearing the British Jersey. Millar is a great signing by Vaughters; his
anti doping stance is what I like to hear, and Millar's honesty is the kind of
example the peloton needs more of.
1720 CET - 23 km to go. The greatly
thinned peloton is all strung out. Euskaltel's pressure looks to be driving home
the advantages gained on the climb. A Quick Step rider is attacking. Boonen and
Petacchi were among those off the back on that climb, by the way.
Crash right under the 20 km banner. Zubeldia has crashed heavily. He's gone
over one of the roadside cones and holding his left shoulder. He's getting some
treatment. They have a bike there, but he hasn't remounted yet. Now he's up and
riding again. It will be an impossible task for him now, the peloton has shrunk
rapidly and the pace is increasing.
So Quick Step wasn't attacking, they were just bringing riders up to work
with the Euskaltel squad. Quick Step seem to be working to set up Bettini. The
Euskaltel squad has pulled off the front of the peloton, with their GC man on
the deck behind. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Euskaltels drop en masse to
help Zubeldia out soon. Two of their riders are at the back of the peloton as we
speak
So Quick Step has several men at the front of this first peloton setting the
pace. They are flying through some tight corners. There are a couple of groups
off the back chasing this peloton. Hmmm... now Lampre has put a guy up here to
help set the pace. Wonder if that means Bennati is in this front group.
The road is deceiving, some of the riders' faces are a mask of pain. The pace
and the awkward ascent caused problems for our riders. Euskaltel's main leader
for the GC, Sammy Sanchez, looks to still be in the front group. This is a loop
now. The riders head back out and do the final circuit. The peloton looks to be
gefattening. That's a pseudo-Belgian term that means the pace is not as high as
it was. It's still fairly high, but it's not completely single-file any more. It
looks like one of the larger chase groups have rejoined the peloton in Luarca.
The pace is still so high and we are getting so many helicopter shots that it
is hard to discern who is in this peloton and who is not. Quick Step still sets
the pace in the peloton. Freire and his Gold Jersey is near the front of the
pack. It appears that Zubielda has abandoned due to his injuries. He landed
awkwardly following on from his nasty crash. That's a big loss for Euskaltel.
Zubeldia was supposed to be there with Sanchez in the big mountains.
A Relax rider has a mechanical. His teammate gives him a tire and pushes him
off again. Bettini in his World Champ jersey is right near the front of the
peloton behind the train of his Quick Step boys. Garate, the climber, is now
bringing the pain on the flats. Moreno was the Relax rider who punctured.
1736 CET - 8 km to go. There is a Milram
rider or two lurking near the front. You can bet that Zabel is in there,
then. Relax dropped a few riders back and got Moreno back up to the peloton.
Rabobank has a few men near the front, alongside the Milram riders behind the
Quick Step train. Looks like another usual suspects sprint.
5 km left. Oh, the peloton is just strung
out and going full gas right now. There is a nasty little climb of 7.5 % coming
up here before the finish. That will sort out some of the sprinters, but guys
like Zabel, Bettini, and Freire will still be in contention like yesterday.
Cunego of Lampre is in here who could launch if he's feeling well.
3km to go. The lead-out to this last
little climb is just flat out. Bettini is going to try to win this, that much is
clear. We could see a classics style rider launch on this climb. Guys like
Gilbert and Rebellin gave it a go yesterday, so look for them up front again
today. Lampre's Bennati is up in the mix here, and so is Rebellin and Freire and
Bettini. The peloton is splitting up on the run-in.
Schumacher on the front. Sammy Sanchez near the front too. Oh, a crash by a
Saunier Duval rider!
Allan Davies goes early. Whoa, Chris Horner is leading out the peloton now!
Horner pulls off, just keeping Evans out of trouble.
Paolo Bettini Wins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
World Champion Paolo Bettini in Luarca! Photo © Fotoreporter Sirotti
Rebellin looked fairly strong, Freire was blocked by Bettini.
Lots of splits in the field here, so good job by Evans to stay up near the
front and out of trouble, and good job by Horner to get him up there. Davis went
up the right barriers.
Bettini snuck around him on the right as Davis drifted a bit towards the
center. Freire tried to come up between Bettini and the barriers on the right,
but there was no place to go. Davis was to his left, and Bettini was in front of
him, so Freire had to kind of sit up. So Bettini pays his mates back for all of
their hard work today by taking the stage. Freire will keep the Gold Jersey of
race leader.
Paolo Bettini, victory thanks to information from
Carlos Barredo
In the press conference following his stage victory, Paolo Bettini explained
part of the reason for his success today:
“I wanted to win in the Vuelta, but I didn’t think I was going to be
able to do it so quickly. Nevertheless, Barredo explained to me what the finish
in Luarca was like and told me it was good for me. That gave me confidence and
my legs responded better than I thought at the end".
Bettini’s triumph breaks a dry spell: “I
haven’t won since the Tour of California, but I'm a professional and I know that
if you work hard, you'll get good results in the end. And that’s the way it
worked out.
Victory Paolo Bettini!! Photo
by Greg Parks Photo/Design
Controversy with Freire? Not a bit. I
spoke with him. We’re friends and we respect each other. I explained to him that
I maintained a straight line in the sprint and I didn’t see him. There’s no way
anyone can say I cut him off. It’s no big deal and our relationship continues
being as good as it's always been".
As for his plans for the Vuelta, Bettini says:
I want to finish the first two weeks of the Vuelta at least. There’s a chance I
may also take part in some stages in the third week, but then I’ll go off to
rest up a little before the World Championship”.
© Unipublic
Portrait of a very contented World Champion after his win in Stage 4.
Photo by Greg Parks
Photo/Design
Tour of
California Stage 4 Report & Photos.
So Nick, who will win tomorrow? I really don't know, the race is always
open... I fancy one of the smaller Spanish teams to get a win.
A few might like to put their stamp of authority on the race... like Cunego?
I would think the Cavadonga matches his skills and favors him. If Cunego hadn't
crashed, I would pick him to win a sprint from a group of about six or seven
guys. But now... There aren't any really hard climbs before that
final climb
tomorrow.
Stage 3 Results: (Provisional)
1. Paolo Bettini (Quick Step)
2. Oscar Freire (Rabobank)
3. Allan Davis (Discovery Channel)
4. Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner)
5. Philippe Gilbert (Francaise des Jeux)
6. Rene Mandri (AG2r)
7. Xavier Florencio (Bouygues Telecom)
8. Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto)
9. Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas)
10. Francisco Terciado (Relax)
11. Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
12. Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne).
General Classification:
1. Oscar Freire
2. Duque
3. Eric Zabel
4. Rene Mandri
So a lot of the GC hopefuls were up there paying attention at the end of this
stage. In the first group was Evans (8th), Pellizotti (9th), Sanchez (11th),
Pereiro (12th), Menchov (19th), Beltran (23rd), Brajkovic (38th), Sastre (44th),
Piepoli (47th). Here is some news: Cunego of Lampre came in 94th on this stage
and lost 34". Not looking good for him right now with that banged up left knee.
This concludes our live coverage, thanks to Locutus and Nick Bull who
provided the race commentary. We'll see you tomorrow for the Vuelta's opening of
the climbing festival on stage 4. Photos and complete results to follow.
Discuss this race and the sport with other cycling fans from around the world on
the Daily Peloton.com Forums
and Chat Room. Sponsor the daily peloton &
advertise your product or service to cyclists and cycling fans on
www.dailypeloton.com -
contact us.
| 
