- HOT TOPICS:
- The new VeloNews.com (BETA)
Sanchez holds them off for stage win as Valverde leads Vuelta
Move over, Paolo Savoldelli. Euskaltel’s Samuel Sánchez is ready to give the Italian – nicknamed “the Falcon” for his fearless runs down Europe’s steepest mountain roads - a run for his money as road racing’s king of the downhill.
Sánchez put down a kamikaze attack with 5km to go on a harrowing descent off the Cat. 3 Alto de Castillo to claim victory in Friday’s hilly 180km 13th stage thanks to fearless descending skills.
“If you don’t take risks, you won’t win,” Sánchez said after just holding off a lead group of 30 riders from the busted up peloton. “I’ve always been good in the downhills. Some people say I am crazy, but I can use it to my advantage to distance the others.”
A native of Spain’s hilly Asturias region, Sánchez rocketed down a twisting, narrow descent off the day’s final climb to open a nine-second gap on the chasing leaders and hit the finishing straight with just enough in the tank to cling to his second career Vuelta stage.
“This was a victory that was deserved and one that I worked hard for,” said Sánchez, giving his Euskaltel team its first win in this year’s Vuelta. “I knew the others were coming behind me like planes and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. This victory gives me a lot of happiness.”
Sánchez’ victory underscored a dramatic, attack riddled stage that saw the protagonists of this Vuelta a España butting heads against riders expecting to shine later this month at the world championships.
Italians Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas) and Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) were leading the charge up the day’s last of three Cat. 3 climbs through the narrow streets of Cuenca, an ancient city perched high above a canyon.
A frenetic chase up – and then down – the abrupt climb splintered the peloton. All the overall favorites managed to chase back on to the lead group of 30 riders, including all four Discovery Channel contenders and Canadian Ryder Hesjedal (Phonak), still poised in the top 20.
Sánchez’ swung wildly through a final chicane with just under a kilometer to go and buried himself to win just meters ahead of the fast-charging bunch led by Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole).
Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) took an eight-second time bonus after finishing third to widen his grip on the race leader’s gold jersey going into Saturday’s decisive time trial.
“My team worked well again today,” said Valverde, who now leads Andrey Kashechkin by 35 seconds. “It was super-fast again today, just like it’s been all week. Sánchez was crazy on the downhill and we couldn’t catch him. It was a nice win and he deserves it.”
Up the Castillo
The steep climb up the Cat. 3 Alto de Castillo with 12km to go in the spectacular canyon outside Cuenca blew apart the peloton. The narrow, cobble-stoned roads through the warren of streets in Cuenca opened up to a higher summit and caused a serious fracture in the bunch.
Following a move by Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas) was Valverde, Paolo Bettini (Quick Step), Carlos Sastre (CSC), Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) and Luis Perez (Cofidis). The riders rode single-file in the gutters to avoid the bumpy ride.
Chasing were Ryder Hesjedal (Phonak), Andrey Kashechkin (Astana), Di Luca, Sanchez, Stijn Devolder (Discovery Channel) and Vladimir Karpets (Caisse d’Epargne). A third chase group included Jose Angel Marchante (Saunier Duval), Discovery Channel’s Manuel Beltran, Janez Brajkovic and Tom Danielson.
More riders, such as Hushovd, Stuart O’Grady (CSC) and Joaquin Rodriguez (Caisse d’Epargne), chased back on after the steepest sections.
Sanchez shot out with 5km to go in a daring downhill attack. The Euskaltel rider – the only rider who isn’t Basque on the team’s lineup – swept through the corners with wild abandon.
He opened up a nine-second gap, but the attack seemed doomed with two kilometers to go. In final daring stab, Sanchez flew through a tight left-right chicane in the final kilometer that seemed to give him just enough to win.
He held off the peloton just long enough to raise his arms in victory as Hushovd led Valverde across the line in the bunch sprint that could serve as a nice preview to the world championships later this month.
Sanchez’ victory made up for last year’s bizarre episode in stage 13 Santuario de la Bien Aparecido when he won ahead of Maurico Ardila, who misread the finishing banners and he thought he had already arrived to the finish. Instead, Ardila had only arrived to the top of the climb and the finish line was another 200m down the road. Sanchez saw the mishap and shot past him to win.
“It was a crazy stage, with an early breakaway with riders of stature and then a wild finish,” said Caisse d’Epargne’s Oscar Pereiro, who has returned to his role as helper after his Tour de France success. “For the top 10 riders, tomorrow’s time trial is important, for the rest of us, it’s a rest day.”
Not breaking away
There were big crowds to applaud the riders as the wound out of Guadalajara. Lorenzo Bernucci (T-Mobile) didn’t start – leaving 158 riders in the Vuelta.
Like it has been all week, it was fast out of the gun. Riders were nervous to try to get into a breakaway in the bumpy ride to Cuenca. Discovery Channel was on the march early, trying in vain to slip one of their boys into the break.
A group of 30 peeled away early, but that was deemed too big and was duly checked. Michael Barry (Discovery) followed out 13 riders at about 50km.
Five riders pulled clear of that group to set the day’s main breakaway. In the move were: Lars Bak (CSC), Michael Boogerd (Rabobank), Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Frederic Bessy (Cofidis) and Iñigo Landaluze (Euskaltel).
The quintet quickly opened up a gap over the day’s second Cat. 3 climb at 63km and widened the difference to seven minutes at the day’s second sprint at Priego, hometown of Spanish cycling legend Luis Ocaña. He won the 1970 Vuelta and the 1973 Tour, but committed suicide in 1994.
Just when it looked like a breakaway was going to stick for the fourth day in a row, the peloton suddenly came to life. Quick Step and Milram massed to the front, upped the pace to 70kph and quickly snuffed the move with 20km to go.
The peloton hit the base of the Castillo climb all together when the fireworks began with an attack by Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas).
Decisive TT on tap
Just as soon as the main bunch came through, all eyes turned to Saturday’s 33.2km 14th stage, the first of two individual time trials in the final week of the Vuelta.
With the time differences so small - four riders are still within 64 seconds of Valverde – the TTs are suddenly becoming much more important in this “climber’s Vuelta.”
“We thought there would be much bigger time differences after La Cobertoria, but now it looks like the time trial is going to be more decisive than we thought,” Valverde said. “I hope to keep the jersey. The others used to be better than me in the discipline, but I’ve improved a lot. The fact there’s a hill right in the middle serves me even better.”
With the exception of the Cat. 3 Alto del Castillo – the same climb used in today’s stage - at 20.7km, the course is mostly a flat run that sweeps north and east of Cuenca. There’s a short, unrated climb in the opening 5km before the course rolls back onto the Castilla climb, which climbs almost 200m in two kilometers. The descent is quite tricky, same as the one used in Friday’s stage, and there are some tight corners in the closing 10km.
The Astana crew is also cautiously optimistic. Vinokourov expects that he should be able to take some time on Valverde, but not enough to vault into the overall lead.
"I hope to get back the maximum on Valverde, but it's difficult to calculate. I hope to take at least one minute," Vinokourov said. "I would have preferred a longer time trial, one of 45km. Valverde is motivated, he has the jersey and the course is better for him. I am good, in an ideal state of form to tackle the third week of the race. There are still a lot of mountains and the race won't be decided until the final time trial."
Kashechkin - now second at 35 seconds back - said he hopes to "have a good result, and maybe even grab the jersey. I beleive it's a good course for me, but I don't believe there will be a lot of differences to Valverde. The Vuelta will be decided in the mountains and the final time trial."
Top 10
1. Samuel Sánchez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 4:03:43
2. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Crédit Agricole, same time
3. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B., s.t.
4. Luca Paolini (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, s.t.
5. Paolo Bettini (I), Quick Step-Innergetic, s.t.
6. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, s.t.
7. Ruggero Marzoli (I), Lampre, s.t.
8. Erik Zabel (G), Milram, s.t.
9. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), CSC, s.t.
10. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), Astana, s.t.
FULL RESULTSOverall
1. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B., 53:42:21
2. Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz), Astana, at 0:35
3. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, at 0:52
4. J. Angel Gomez Marchante (Sp), Saunier Duval, 1:04
5. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), Astana, 1:46
6. Janez Brajkovic (Slo), Discovery Channel, 2:13
7. Manuel Beltran (Sp), Discovery Channel, 2:36
8. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 2:39
9. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B., 3:10
10. Ruggero Marzoli (I), Lampre, 4:07
To see how today's stage developed, click here to bring up our Live Update Window.
