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Alexanders the Great: Vino' wins again; Valverde moves into the lead

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Vinokourov does it again

Photo: AFP

A pair of Alexanders conquered Sunday’s epic, six-climb “queen stage” across the abrupt mountains of northern Spain to seize control of the 61st Vuelta a España.

Alexandre Vinokourov – the attacking Kazakh from Astana – jumped with teammate Andrey Kashechkin with 7km to go on the final 8km La Cobertoria climb to win for the second day in a row and confirm his candidacy for overall victory despite a slow start.

Alejandro Valverde – the dashing Spanish star hunting the first grand-tour victory of his career – counter-attacked with 2km to go to drop archrivals Carlos Sastre (CSC), Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas) and José Angel Marchante (Saunier Duval), reeling in Kashechkin and surging into the overall leader’s jersey.

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“This is very special. I’ve always been close and now I finally have it,” said Valverde after taking his first grand tour leader’s jersey. “Vinokourov is looking stronger every day and now he’s a real threat for this Vuelta.”

Vinokourov triggered the attack and Kashechkin followed suit

Photo: AFP

Valverde now leads Kashechkin by 27 seconds and Sastre by 44 seconds.

The dream run of Discovery Channel’s Janez Brakjovic, the 22-year-old who has led since El Morredero, ended on the final summit when the bird-like Slovenian couldn’t quite follow the best; he fell to sixth at 2:05 back.

“Every day is a new challenge for him and he’s entering unknown terrain,” said Discovery Channel’s Michael Barry. “He just tried to limit his losses and do as well as he could. Now we have to see how the team keeps going. Now we don’t have the jersey to defend so we have to see how the other guys are going and see what the plans are.”

Discovery Channel’s Tom Danielson – who suffered in Friday’s climbing stage to El Morredero to fall out of contention for the overall - looked comfortable, finishing 11th at 2:14. He probably could have finished much better had he not helped tow Brajkovic to the line.

Smart Alex
It seems like the two Alexanders are ready to take over after spectacular performances in the hardest mountain stage of the 2006 Vuelta.

Vinokourov has shaken off a slow start – when he lost more than two minutes in the first climbing stage at La Covatilla – to stampede right back in the middle of things.

With Kazakhstan’s powerful prime minister and cycling fan looking on, Vinokourov and Kashechkin bolted out of a lead group of about 25 riders just 1km into the steep La Cobertoria climb to open about a 20-second gap on the leaders.

Valverde takes the helm

Photo: Graham Watson

“We wanted to win the stage and put Kash’ in the leader’s jersey,” said Vinokourov. “I was also hoping to put some time in on the others. There are still two weeks of this Vuelta and I am feeling better every day.”

Caisse d’Epargne had five men in the lead group, but Valverde told his troops to relax when the Kazakhs attacked and be patient. Big Russian rouleur Vladimir Karpets led the chase until an attack by Sastre at 3km to go left only Valverde, a resurgent Di Luca and a stubborn Marchante on the wheel.

Sastre couldn’t shake the others, and when Valverde saw the CSC rider suffering, he made a well-timed attack with 2km to go. He quickly gapped the others and erased the differences to the two Astana riders.

“When we heard Valverde attack, I immediately went because I didn’t want to risk losing the stage to Valverde in a sprint because he’s very fast,” said Vinokourov, referring to Friday’s climbing stage, when Valverde shot past him with 200m to go. “This was the hardest mountain stage of my career. I was very motivated to win.”

Valverde, meanwhile, expressed satisfaction with how his legs responded. He wasn’t quite able to catch Vinokourov, but he caught the dangerous Kashechkin and took second-place time bonuses to gap his rivals going into the Vuelta’s relatively easy second week.

“This was a hard stage, as hard as anything we see in the Tour de France. I don’t know if there are stages harder than this,” Valverde said. “When Sastre attacked and I responded, the idea was to go for it in the maximum. The objective was to give everything – if I caught them, great, if not, at least get time on the others.”

Valverde said his Caisse d’Epargne crew will protect the jersey, but didn’t discount letting a non-threatening breakaway go up the road. The team might be a little cautious about trying anything too crazy, after what happened with teammate Oscar Pereiro in the Tour de France.

“Now we will have to defend the jersey and avoid complications,” Valverde said. “If there’s a breakaway like we saw in the last Tour, we’ll have to see the circumstances of the race and the director will decide.”

Early movement
With a long day ahead of them, scores of riders wanted to get a head start on the suffering. An early move of 18 – including such names as Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d’Epargne), Leonardo Piepoli and David Millar (Saunier Duval), Pietro Caucchioli (Credit Agricole) and Michael Rasmussen and Denish Menchov (Rabobank) among them.

That group was considered too big and too dangerous and was reeled in at 23km. Several of the same names counter-attacked with at 27km and another break of 11 held over the Cat. 1 Puerto de Connio, building a lead of 2:13 on the main pack.

More riders fell back and moved forward to create the day’s main move, among them were: Mauricio Ardila and Pieter Weening (Rabobank), Lars Bak (CSC), Pietro Caucchioli (Crédit Agricole), David Arroyo and Xabier Zandio (Caisse d’Epargne), Egoi Martinez (Discovery Channel), Igor Anton and Iñigo Landaluze (Euskaltel), Dario Cioni (Liquigas), José Elias and Angel Vallejo (Relax-GAM), Angel Goméz (Saunier Duval) and Carlos Barredo (Astana).

The beauty of Asturias

Photo: Graham Watson

Cioni went on a solo flier, but was reeled in. Team CSC did most of the work to keep the breakaway within reach under three minutes as they hit the penultimate climb, the Alto de San Lorenzo, rated “especial.”

Anton, Martinez and Arroyo put up a good fight, but the leaders were within one minute on the lower reaches of the San Lorenzo climb. Anton fell back to leave Martinez and Arroyo hanging about one minute ahead of the main pack, led by Iñigo Cuesta of Team CSC.

The brutal pace split up the peloton, with all kinds of riders getting spit out the back, including Paolo Bettini (Quick Step), Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d’Epargne), Denis Menchov and Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank).

The lead group was quickly whittled down to about 20 riders, including the ever-steady Ryder Hesjedal (Phonak). Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) was dropped early, chased back on a small downhill section, and then was dropped back again and was about 90 seconds back over the summit.

Martinez and Arroyo topped over the San Lorenzo climb nursing a 58-second lead. Anton chased back on the descent and nearly went flying off the cliff. They were caught with about 22km to go to set up the final battle.

Up the La Cobertoria
As expected, the Vuelta’s “queen stage” made an important selection among the overall candidates for final victory.

With more than 4000 meters of climbs (that’s more than 13,000 vertical feet), riders put on the 39x25 to give them that extra gear on the brutally steep roads.

The three-man breakaway was reeled in with about 22km to go to set up the final duel among the overall favorites. A lead group of about 20 contenders were ready to duke it out on the most difficult mountain stage, but Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) had something else in mind — he sprang off the front with 21km and built a 45-second lead with 18km to go, but was duly reeled in 11km later.

Cuesta takes up the chase

Photo: Graham Watson

Discovery Channel put Egoi Martinez into the day’s main breakaway of 15 riders, and the Basque led the way up the day’s steep penultimate climb, the Alto de San Lorenzo. Also hanging strong for Brajkovic up the day’s brutal penultimate climb were Manuel Beltrán, Tom Danielson and Stijn Devolder.

Caisse d’Epargne had four riders plus Valverde in the lead group to put pressure on Brajkovic and archrival Carlos Sastre (CSC).

Team CSC’s Iñigo Cuesta hammered up the San Lorenzo, eliminating such riders as Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) and trimming the lead group down to about two dozen riders over the summit. Several chased back before the final climb at La Cobertoria, including Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto).

Bettini hit the base of the climb nursing a 35-second climb on a lead group of about 25 riders. Zandio pulled off, but there were still four Caisse d’Epargne riders at the front of the main bunch.

Polish rider Sylvester Szmyd (Lampre) was the first to throw down, quickly blowing back the dying Bettini.

Then it was Vinokourov and Kashechkin drilling it with just under 7km to go, quickly opening a 10-second gap. Valverde didn’t seem worried and kept big Russian Vladimir Karpets setting the pace on the front.

With 5km to go, Kashechkin was riding into the virtual lead thanks to Vinokourov’s hard work when Sastre punched the accelerator to put Brajkovic under pressure. Easily following the move were Di Luca and Valverde. Jose Marchante (Saunier Duval) and Luis Peréz (Cofidis) fought hard to chase back on.

Danielson and Devolder were trying to tow Brajkovic, but the youngster couldn’t quite follow the pace, while Beltrán remained up the road chasing his chances with Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel).

Valverde was going hard with 3km remaining, with Di Luca, Sastre and Marchante suffering to stay on the wheel. Sastre took another dig, but the leading quartet was 17 seconds behind the Kazakhs at 2km to go. Brajkovic hit the banner at 1:15.

Valverde – chasing the leader’s jersey - attacked hard with just under 2km to drop Sastre, Di Luca and Marchante and pull within 11 seconds. Hearing that Valverde was on the march, Vinokourov changed gears and dropped the fading Kashechkin to chase the stage victory.

Vinokourov hit the 1km-to-go banner with just 12 seconds over a hard-chasing Valverde and Kashechkin, who was working hard to minimize any losses to the Spaniard. Behind, Di Luca, Sastre and Marchante crossed under the red kite at 34 seconds back.

After a summer of frustration, Vino’ rode like he had a point to prove, and prove it he did, scooting across the line with a healthy 16-second margin over Valverde, who now holds the overall lead in the Vuelta by 27 seconds over Kashechkin.

The man who started the day in the golden leader’s jersey crossed in 13th place at 2:14. The 22-year-old Brajkovic now sits in sixth place overall, 2:05 out of the lead.

Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto) rode well to finish 21st at 3:44 back and Ryder Hesjedal (Phonak) was 22nd at 4:20 back. Horner now sits 22nd overall and Hesjedal is 16th at 7:16 back. Danielson is 13th at 6:20 back. Eight riders abandoned the Vuelta, leaving 171 riders with nearly two weeks to go. Among the abandons were Bernhard Kohl, the young T-Mobile rider who crashed hard on the descent off the San Lorenzo climb. The Austrian suffered serious cuts and abrasions as well as a dislocated finger in his left hand and hard impacts to his body core.

The Vuelta now heads into its first of two rest days and resumes on Tuesday with four relatively moderate – and predictable? – stages. Barring a major surprise, the top side of the overall standings in this Vuelta will probably remain stable until Saturday’s 33km individual time trial at Cuenca.

Results - Stage 9
1. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), Astana, 5:50:43
2. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B., at 0:16
3. Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz), Astana, at 0:21
4. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, at 0:43
5. J. Angel Gomez Marchante (Sp), Saunier Duval, at 0:43
6. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, at 0:43
7. Manuel Beltran (Sp), Discovery Channel, 1:46
8. Leonardo Piepoli (I), Saunier Duval, 1:46
9. Samuel Sánchez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 1:59
10. Stijn Devolder (B), Discovery Channel, 2:14
<>Overall
1. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B., 36:41:31
2. Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz), Astana, at 0:27
3. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, at 0:44
4. J. Angel Gomez Marchante (Sp), Saunier Duval, at 0:56
5. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), Astana, 1:38
6. Janez Brajkovic (Slo), Discovery Channel, 2:05
7. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 2:21
8. Manuel Beltran (Sp), Discovery Channel, 2:28
9. Ruggero Marzoli (I), Lampre, 3:59
10. Sylvester Szmyd (Pol), Lampre, 5:18

FULLRESULTS