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Quick Step's Wouter Weylandt wins stage 17 of the Vuelta.
Astana shakes up a sleepy stage with a crosswind attack at the end.
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Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini have each won two stages in this year’s Vuelta a España and had already planned to pull out after Wednesday’s stage into Valladolid, so the Quick Step superstars decided to sit up in their final sprint and leave it the second-tier sprinters to take a shot.
Budding Belgian talent Wouter Weylandt stepped boldly into the void, holding off a wild sprint ahead of Matti Breschel (CSC-Saxo Bank) to win by a half-tire length to give Quick Step victory its fifth win at the Vuelta.
“This is a dream come true to win a stage in my first grand tour,” said Weylandt, 23, who won Nokere-Koerse earlier this year. “This comes after I’ve had a really hard season with a lot of injuries and illnesses. I’m really happy to win today.”
Euskaltel-Euskadi worked hard all day to control a two-man breakaway and put Koldo Fernández into good position for the high-speed sprint that topped 65kph, but the Basque sprinter could only scrap to fourth.
Stage 17, Zamora to Valladolid, 148.2km
● Leader: Alberto Contador (Astana) maintained his 1:17 lead to Levi Leipheimer (Astana)
● Points: Contador maintained the jersey
● KoM: David Moncoutie (Cofidis) retained his jersey
● Combined: Contador retains the jersey
● Team: Caisse d’Epargne maintained its lead Astana
● Peloton: Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis), DNS; Sebastien Joly (FDJeux) DNF; 141 remain
“I was in ideal position with 200 meters when I opened up my sprint. If I had legs today I could have won with ease, but sprints are like this,” Fernandez said. “The team worked wonderfully today. We’ve had a good Vuelta, but we lost (Igor) Antón. Tomorrow will be hard for me because I’m a little spent, but I will try again Sunday in Madrid.”
A day after languishing at parade speed in Tuesday’s stage that finished an hour later than expected, the peloton ramped up the speeds in Wednesday’s fiery stage across Spain’s barren central plateau from Zamora to Valladolid.
Pushed along by brisk tailwinds, the main pack flew into Valladolid for a fast finish.
Alberto Contador finished safely in the main pack to defend his 1:17 lead to Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer, but said Wednesday’s stage wasn’t without its nervous moments.
“The last 45km were exaggerated with the speed and the wind. I tried to stay at the front to be in the safest place because there are less people who can crash in front of you,” Contador said. “I lost a pedal today at a traffic circle and almost fell again. There was a lot of tension the bunch today and you can lose the Vuelta at any moment.”
Contador crashed Monday and raced with a small white bandage on his left knee, but expressed optimism going into the last five days of racing.
“Every day is one step closer to victory,” Contador said. “I’m looking forward to the climbing time trial (Saturday). I’ve raced and trained there often and I will have a lot of family and friends there to cheer me on. I have a strong team supporting me, but you cannot lose concentration at any moment.”
Long break
Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) was the day’s lone non-starter in Zamora.
Erik Zabel (Milram) and Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre) received an award from Vuelta officials before the start for being the only two riders who’ve participated in all three grand tours in 2008.
Unlike Tuesday’s tepid start, there were plenty of attacks from the gun, with Dimitri Champion (Bouygues Telecom) and Sebastian Lang (Gerolsteiner) going on unsuccessful sorties.
Pedro Horrillo (Rabobank) followed some of his teammates off the front at about 12km and he stayed out there waiting to see if anyone else would take the bait. José Ruíz (Andalucia-CajaSur) duly surged out and the day’s break was set in the opening 15km.
The pair worked together to open up a gap of nearly eight minutes before the peloton began to wake from its slumber.
Horrillo and Ruíz made an interesting pair.
The veteran Horrillo, who’s won stages at such races as Paris-Nice and Dauphiné Libéré with his trademark late attacks to surprise the peloton, is considered somewhat of an intellectual in the peloton. The tall, bulky rider studied philosophy at university and pens a popular column in Spain’s El Páis daily.
Ruíz, a pro since 2005, is a scrappy attacker still looking for his first pro victory.
Once they hit the open flats nearing Valladolid, Ruíz was taking shelter from crosswinds behind the bulky Horrillo, but his counterpart wasn’t getting much relief.
“You have to do your work for the team, but with Oscar (Freire) gone, I was thinking about trying something today. Initially, I was thinking about trying something in the final kilometers, but there was a break and I found myself up front,” Horrillo said. “In these stages it’s like you’re out there in a rowboat. It’s long, a lot of wind and you’re in the same position all day just slogging away.”
With the gap coming down to less than two minutes, Astana massed some fresh legs on the front of the peloton as the pack hit a steep rise with about 16km to go.
Sergio Paulinho and Tomas Vaitkus set a blistering pace that cut the peloton in two. Among the 50 or so riders caught out were Boonen, best climber David Moncoutie (Cofidis) and Zabel.
Smelling blood, Silence-Lotto and Liquigas hammered on the front of the lead group and left the second group in a panic at 15 seconds back. Cofidis led the chase and the two groups rejoined with about 9km to go, just when the day’s main break was neutralized.
The crosswinds turned into tailwinds as the route looped back toward Valladolid and the peloton hit speeds of 75kph on the flats.
Zabel flatted with about 7km to go and was forced to change wheels and all but end his hopes of victory. The veteran German fought to regain contact with 3km to go while Boonen threw in the towel with 1km to go.
Thursday’s stage
The 63rd Vuelta a España continues Thursday with what should be the last chance for the sprinters until Sunday’s finale in Madrid.
The 167.4km stage rolls south across the central plateau, starting in Valladolid and climbs over the Sierra de Guardarrama north of Madrid before ending in Las Rozas.
The day’s main hurdle is the Cat. 3 Alto de los Leones (rated as a second category climb from the other side) at 128.5km. From there, it’s mostly downhill on wide-open roads toward the finish line in the outskirts of Madrid.
Las Rozas hosted the Vuelta once, in 2003, when Pedro Díaz Lobato won in a breakaway.
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