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Cobo wins, Leipheimer defends lead
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Juan José Cobo (Fuji-Servetto) attacked with just under 2km to go to win Thursday’s 145.4km “queen stage” over two first-category climbs at the 24th Vuelta a Castilla y León.
Cobo, who started nearly three minutes out of the GC fight, timed it just right to bolt clear of a reduced pack of leaders to win for the first time this season.
“I was planning to attack 6km from the finish, but Contador was setting too high of a tempo. I thought that attacking so far from the finish wouldn’t be very useful, so I decided to wait,” Cobo said. “With 2km to go, I threw caution to the wind. I knew I wouldn’t have anything to do against guys like Valverde at the finish, so I decided to go for it. Not being a threat in GC helped, too.”
Levi Leipheimer (Astana) big-ringed it across the line eighth at nine seconds back to retain the overall leader’s jersey and all but secure victory with just one stage left in the five-day race across northern Spain.
Stage 4: Santa Maria del Paramo to Laguna de Los Peces. 145.4 km (90.3 miles)
Stage winner: Juan José Cobo (Fuji-Servetto)
Overall leader Levi Leipheimer (Astana)
Up next: The race's final stage, from Benavente to Valladolid is 152.5 km (94.76 miles); it's relatively flat with a short steep uphill finish.
2009 Stage winners:
Stage 1: Joaquin Sobrino (Burgos)
Stage 2: Levi Leipheimer (Astana)
Stage 3: Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne)
Stage 4: Juan José Cobo (Fuji-Servetto)
Alberto Contador (Astana) lived up to his promise and worked to protect Leipheimer’s lead and remains in second place overall.
The two-time defending champion set a high rhythm up the final climb to the Lago de los Peces to neutralize attacks until the non-threatening Cobo bolted clear to win the stage, eight seconds ahead of the late counter-attacking Denis Menchov (Rabobank).
“I made a fast rhythm on the final climb so that there were no attacks,” Contador said. “I am extremely content with the work that I made for my teammate Leipheimer. The attacks from Cobo were not a threat. The only thing that was important was to defend the leader, because today was the key day for victory in the race.”
David Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream) rode well over the two-climb “queen stage” to hold on to third place on GC at 22 seconds back.
Controlling the break
The action was fast from the gun, with attacks coming from Rabobank straight away. A group of 10 riders was neutralized before the race arrived to the day’s first hurdle, the Cat. 1 Alto de Perdón.Attacks came fast and heavy, quickly dwindling the front group to the top 10 “gallos” or top riders, with Leipheimer and Contador easily marking the moves. Juanma Garate (Rabobank) surged away after coming over the top, drawing out some big names, including Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing), best-placed at 1:33 back.
Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) joined the move, but a mechanical problem forced him out of the action. Joining Sevilla and Garate were Jorge Aranza (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Xavier Tondo (Andalucía-CajaSur), Fran Pérez (Caisse d’Epargne) and David Bernabeu (Barbot).
Nearing the base of the final climb with 25km to go, the gap hovered at 48 seconds. Astana had everything under control, with Chechu Rubiera, Jesús Hernández, Haimar Zubeldia and Contador leading the way for Leipheimer.
Contador, the gregario
Contador turned into Leipheimer’s super gregario in the decisive climbing stage of the five-day contest.Astana continued to control the pace of the main pack, with four riders at the front protecting Leipheimer as the race pushed above the Lagos de Sanabría, one of the largest glacial lakes in Spain.
Astana kept the leading six on a short leash of just 38 seconds with 11km to go, when Iñigo Cuesta (Cervélo) and Adrian Palmores (Ampo) surged away from the main pack.
Tondo tried his luck with an acceleration to drop Sevilla and Co. with about 8km to the summit of Lago de los Peces.
Out of the blue, Zabriskie surged away from the lead group with about 6km to go, creating panic in his wake as the American TT’d his way up the climb to quickly reel in the Cuesta group and the remnants of the day’s breakaway.
That forced Astana’s Contador to surge ahead, with Leipheimer hot on his tail as the lead group was quickly reduced to about 20 riders. Tondo was hanging on for dear life at about 35 seconds off the front, with still a long way to go.
Under Contador’s pace, the gap was reduced to 22 seconds for Tondo and the leaders were on the rivet to maintain the rhythm as the group was reduced to a baker’s dozen with 2km to go.
Cobo (Fuji-Servetto) powered away and quickly passed the struggling Tondo. Starting at 2:54 back, he presented no threat on GC and Astana let him go.
Menchov (Rabobank) punched out a counter-attack to finish second in the stage, just one second ahead of the Leipheimer group. The gap was small enough to leave Leipheimer comfortably in the leader's jersey, 16 seconds ahead of his teammate Contador.
"It was a beautiful stage for the mountains we climbs, but it was very hard and more aggressive than yesterday, but I had the strong team and the stronger climb in the race," Leipheimer said. "I felt good throughout the day. I felt strong on the two climbs. I didn't race Paris-Nice, so that allowed me to come into this race fresher."
Final sprint
The 24th Vuelta a Castilla y León concludes Friday with s 152.4km from Benavente to Valladolid. The flat stage suggests a mass sprint, but the day finishes atop a steep hill that’s tailor-made for Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne).Related
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