65th Vuelta a España - Stage 2
FDJ's Byelorussian sprinter Yahueni Hutarovich
surprises the royalty of the fast legs taking his most prestigious win...
Francaise des Jeux's Yauheni Hutarovich the man from Minsk, Byelorussia
skunked the Manx rocket by a wheel to take the sprint in the second stage finish
in Marbella. The 26 year old sprinter with the blue 4 leaf clover on his back
made his play in the final 100 meters rushing up the right side of the road
passing Cavendish and Farrar who were locked in for the win; but Hutarovich had
the upper hand to dash both riders hopes.
It is the 5th win of the season for the former Byelorus road champion and
16th career victory, who is in his 2nd year as a pro rider. Hutarovich
most recently took stage 3 in the tour of Poland, and two stages in the Tour
Méditerranéen earlier this year. But the stage win in Marbella is his most
prestigious and "marbellous" yet in his pro career.
25 meters to go... Hutarovich catches Mark Cavendish
Photo © 2010 Fotoreporter
Sirotti
Lampre's Alessandro Petacchi opened the sprint coming off the wheels of his
lead out Hondo but could only grab fourth following on the wheels of Hutarovich,
Cavendish and Farrar with Footon/Servetto's young sprinter Manuel Antonio
Cardoso finishing fifth... Cardoso is one rider I expect we will hear more from
in the coming sprint finishes.
L-R: Koldo Fernandez (Euskaltel), Milram's Robert Forster, Manuel Cardoso
(Footon), HTC's Mark Cavendish with Garmin's Farrar, Ben Swift (SKY), Alessandro
Petacchi (Lampre and stage winner FDJ's Yauheni Htarovich throws his bike at the
line to win by a wheel.
Photo © 2010 Fotoreporter
Sirotti
The race came down to a mass sprint finish after the break of four riders was
caught in the final 12 kilometers with William Walker (Footon/Servetto/Fuji) and
Andalucia Caja Sur's Marco to be the last caught in the day long break that
started after only 6 km into the race today. The stage featured perhaps the
longest uncategorized climb that ended only 33 km from the finish with the break
leading by 1:30 at the summit.
Mark Cavendish keeps his red jersey of race leader leading his five team
mates separated by the sprint time bonus today at 12 seconds. We have a tightly
packed peloton with and may until later this week.
Yauheni Hutarovich will start in the green jersey of points leader. The first
KOM points were taken today by Omega Pharma Lotto Mikael Delage who will wear
the climbers jersey; while the white combination point jersey will be worn by
Javier Ramirez. of Andalucia Caja Sur. HTC continues to lead the team
classification
Graphic © 2010
Vuelta a España © Unipublic
Stage 2: Alcalá de Guadaíra - Marbella 173.7 km
Large crowds lined today's start in Alcala de Guadaíra following the
pattern of last nights team time trial where over 200,000 fans lined the course
in a fitting celebration of the start of the 75th anniversary of the grand
Spanish tour. Fans of the local team Andalucia Caja Sur were in abundance to
cheer on their heroes as Mayor Antonio Gutierrez fired the start gun for the
neutral laps around town.
The action got underway with a break of four escaping after 4 kilometers; by
the sixth km the lads had a minute on the HTC/Columbia led peloton as the team
of race leader Cavendish, settled in for the long haul to set the pace over the
hilly 174 kilometer stage that featured the first climb of the tour and a
collection of uncategorized climbs that led to the 30 kilometer downhill dash to
the finish.
Our fab four: Johnny Walker (Footon/Servetto), Mickaël Buffaz
(Cofidis), Javier Abeja Ramirez (Andalucia Caja Sur), and Mickael Delage (Omega
Pharma/Lotto opened a gap of 5 minutes by the 15 km marker; the temps hovered at
37 C (96 F) in the afternoon sun as the quartet pushed the gap to 6:45 by the 20
km marker with 150 km to go.
The lead briefly dropped to 5 minutes as they approached the first and only
categorized climb of the day where the four opened the gap to 7:09 on the HTC
led peloton.
As our hardy adventurers started the climb of the Cat. 3 Alto de Pruna
the gap was down to 6:l4 when disaster struck on the early slopes with fellow
adventurer Mikael Buffaz taking a fall and breaking his collar bone and being
forced to abandon the race. Bad luck for the French rider who was in excellent
form and the recent victor of the
Paris -
Corrèze race three weeks ago.
His former breakmates carried on to the summit with Omega Pharma's Mikael
Delage taking the first climbing points of the Vuelta and the climbers jersey
with Javier Ramirez (Andalucia) and William Walker (Footon) on his wheel with
the Columbia led peloton following at 6:02.
Behind the peloton was having their own problems staying upright as
HTC/Columbia duo Lars Ytting Bak and Martin Velits getting tangled up and
crashing; luckily without any serious consequences.
Delage led through the first intermediate sprint in Setenil de las
Bodegas followed by Javier Ramirez and Johnny Walker. The pack rolled
through at an increased pace closing the gap to 4:30 with 75 km to go.
Columbia continued to set the pace with Xacobeo-Galicia riding shotgun; the
riders faced nothing but an up hill grind to the summit of the un-named and
final un-categorized climb so the chasers had the balance of numbers and gravity
on their side on their mission to close the gap to the three leaders before the
descent to the finish in Marbella.
Delage attacked with 60 km to go as the peloton closed in at 2:50 the Omega
Pharma /Lotto rider opened a 15 second gap and led through the second
intermediate sprint followed at 30 seconds by Footon's Aussie Johnny
Walker second and Spain's Javier Abeja Ramirez (Andalucia Caja Sur) third.
The attack had animated the leaders with the gap rebounding to over 4 minutes as
they climbed with only 48 km to go; behind Cavendish looked to be in trouble on
the climb with six km left to climb.
Sensing an opportunity, Marcos García of Xacobeo Galicia attacked the peloton
and rode away without a response from and bridged to the leaders who were
together with holding onto 1:20 with 41 km to go as they neared the summit.
Behind HTC had stepped up the chase as the peloton strung out on the climb.
40 km to go, the gap went under a minute. As the quartet attacked the descent
with 32 km to go the gap was only 15 seconds. The fab four worked fast on the
descent with Johnny Walker opening a 30 second gap on his break mates with 29 km
to go.
Walker drove the gap to 47 seconds, but by 20 km to go his three chasers
closed to 16 seconds; by 16 km to go the quartet were back together as Lampre
leading the peloton and closing in on the four.
Dooton's Walker and and Andalucia's Javier Ramirez persisted in their
efforts to deny the chase as Mikael Delage and Marcos García sat up and
were swept up by the fast moving pelton. The two fighters were finally caught
with 12.7 km to go as the teams prepared to fight it out on the streets of
Marbella.
With 11 km to go, Six HTC riders led as Milram and Caisse positioned near the
front. But it was Lampre taking the con towing Alessandro Petacchi on the front
as Milram and Sky sat on the front. With 6 km to go the green an blu jerseys of
Liquigas controlled the pace into a stiff headwind for Bennati. With 5 go go
Lampre and Liquigas controlled the front with Liquigas winning out on the front
as they went under the 4 km to go banner.
Quick Step, Cofidis took the front with 5 Liquiguys with 2.5 km... but when
the mass of riders hit the 1 km to go banner no one team was in control just a
few leadout men with a sprinter in tow... the Petacchi led out long with
Cavendish and Farrar, Duque and Cardosa but it was the Belorussian surprise
Yauheni Hutarovich marking their faces with surprise as he drove up the right
side with 100 meters to go making Cavendish look like he was in slow motion as
he passed him to take the win by a wheel.
Hutarovich celebrates his win after the finish
Photo © 2010 Fotoreporter
Sirotti
Stage 2 Results
1 Hutarovich, Yauheni Fdj 4h 35' 41''
2 Cavendish, Mark HTC Columbia - 0:00
3 Farrar, Tyler Garmin Transitions - 0:00
4 Petacchi, Alessandro Lampre/Farnese Vini - 0:00
5 Cardoso,Manuel Antonio Lea Footon/Servetto - 0:00
6 Fernández De Larrea, Koldo Euskaltel/Euskadi - 0:00
7 Swift, Ben Team SKY - 0:00
8 Förster, Robert Milram - 0:00
9 Galimzyanov, Denis Katusha - 0:00
10 Stauff, Andreas Quick Step - 0:00
11 Dumoulin, Samuel Cofidis - 0:00
12 Offredo, Yoann Francaise des Jeux - 0:00
13 Mata, Enrique Footon/Servetto/Fuji - 0:00
14 Haedo, Juan Jose Saxo Bank - 0:00
15 Weylandt, Wouter Quick Step - 0:00
General Classification After Stage 2
1 Cavendish, Mark HTC Columbia - 4:49:35
2 Sivtsov, Kanstantsin HTC Columbia - 0:12
3 Velits, Peter HTC Columbia - 0:12
4 Van Garderen, Tejay HTC Columbia - 0:12
5 Goss, Matthew Harley HTC Columbia - 0:12
6 Roulston, Hayden Thr HTC Columbia - 0:12
7 Farrar, Tyler Garmin Transitions - 0:21'
8 Bennati, Daniele Liquigas - 0:22
9 Nibali, Vincenzo Liquigas - 0:22
10 Willems, Frederik Liquigas - 0:22
11 Guarnieri, Jacopo Liquigas - 0:22
12 Santaromita, Ivan Liquigas - 0:22
13 Paterski, Maciej Liquigas - 0:22
14 Kreuziger, Roman Liquigas - 0:22
15 Hutarovich, Yauheni Fdj - 0:25
Celebrating our tenth year!
Help
Support the Daily Peloton
| 
