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2009 Volta ao Algarve: Koldo takes stage, lead
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A steep, 200-meter rising finish at the end of Thursday’s hilly 183km second stage in the Volta ao Algarve looked tailor-made for Damiano Cunego or Alberto Contador.
But those big-name riders have bigger fish to fry later this year, which opened the door for Basque sprinter Koldo Fernández to pull the double, taking the stage win and the leader’s jersey.
The Euskaltel-Euskadi speedster bolted ahead of Portuguese sprinter Manuel Cardoso (Liberty Seguros) to claim his first win of the year, with Gerard Ciolek (Milram) coming through third.
Overnight leader Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam) crossed the line fifth, but ceded the jersey to Fernández on time bonuses.
“This win gives me a lot of tranquility to confront my next goals. The first win perhaps is the most important because it gives you confidence in your possibilities,” Fernández said. “Yesterday I had good legs, but I was closed off. Today I was able to find a clear shot. It wasn’t a finale ideal for my qualities, it was really steep there at the end, but I was able to pull it off.”
The victory is Fernández’s seventh as a pro and the first this year for the Basque-based outfit.
He profited from some bad luck from stage-1 winner Haussler, who got caught behind some slower riders coming through a roundabout with 400 meters to go. Haussler still managed to take fifth in the explosive sprint. But Fernández, who was third in Wednesday’s opener, took the leader’s jersey by four seconds ahead of Haussler.
“I had some bad luck because in the traffic circle I got stuck behind some slow riders. There was already a gap to the leaders for the sprint and it got steep right after that,” a disappointed Haussler said. “It’s just too bad because the guys were at the front all day. The only good thing is that the form is there.”
The day’s hilly route into the Algarve’s lush interior featured another big breakaway with Garmin-Slipstream’s Martyn Maaskant slipping into the group.
The leaders opened up a promising seven-minute-plus gap, but Astana, Milram and Cervélo set a torrid pace to erase a 3:30 gap in the final 20km to seal the break’s doom with 5km to go.
Maaskant, who’s building his form for the upcoming spring classics, expressed frustration by the group’s half-hearted effort.
“The Portuguese riders (in the break) don’t seem to know how to race. They don’t want to work, they were always complaining, saying it was too fast. It was weird racing with them. Maybe they can’t go harder,” Maaskant said with a shrug. “There’s always a small chance the break will work. You have to give it all when you’re in that situation. Anyway, the legs are feeling good, so that’s most important.”
Riders will get more opportunities to test their form in Friday’s 175km third stage in another hilly stage ending with a summit finish at the Cat. 2 Alto do Malhao. Four third-category climbs will loosen up the legs in the stage starting in Vila Real Saint Antonio along the Spanish-Portuguese border.
It’s nearly 300 vertical meters to the Malhao summit — maybe steep enough and long enough to lure Cunego and Contador to the front of the action.
