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País Vasco: Vande Velde third, Contador in control, Horner crashes out
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Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) finished third in the 161km fourth stage at the Vuelta al País Vasco in Spain, joining a successful, three-man breakaway on Thursday.
Michael Albasini (Columbia-Highroad) kicked to victory, with Jurgen Van den Broucke (Silence-Lotto) coming through second and Vande Velde slotting into third after an all-day break in a hilly, seven-climb stage in Spain’s Basque Country.
For Vande Velde, working into the breakaway and having a shot at victory was just another confirmation that things are on the right footing looking ahead toward the Giro d’Italia.
“I told everyone on the team that I wanted to go for it one day. I took myself out of GC yesterday so I wouldn’t be a threat and I got into the break, so I am very satisfied. The legs were great, I surprised myself today,” Vande Velde told VeloNews. “Albasini is strong, he almost won the bun ch sprint the other day, so I knew what I was getting myself into.”
For Albasini, a strong sprinter who was second in the bunch sprint in stage 2 to take fourth behind a two-man winning breakaway, it’s his first victory since joining Columbia-Highroad after three years at Liquigas.
“Yesterday was a very hard day and today it was clear a break would go, but I was surprised how fast it was on the first climb. I was always attacking and it took awhile to make something work,” Albasini said. “Two days ago, I made a test in the bunch sprint and I knew that I would be strong in the final sprint today. I am very happy to win because this is an important race.”
Ben Swift (Katusha) led the main pack across the line at 1:26 back.
Overnight leader Alberto Contador (Astana) finished safely in the bunch to retain his leader’s jersey, leading by eight seconds over Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto), Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Toni Colom (Katusha).
The stage also saw the early departure of Chris Horner (Astana), who crashed on the descent off the Urkiola and abandoned the race0Aafter a tremendous display on Wednesday to help drive teammate Alberto Contador up the day’s final and decisive climb.
Initial reports are that Horner crashed hard, perhaps landing on a guardrail and maybe have seriously injured his shoulder.
“We hope that Chris is OK. It happened in front of me and it appeared that he hit the guardrail. I am not sure exactly how it happened,” Contador said at the line. “These are the worst kind of crashes. I was OK and wasn’t involved. For the rest of the team, they have one more day of work on Friday, then it’s all up to me on Saturday.”
VdV on the march
The 161km, seven-climb stage from Eibar to Gueñes was supposed to be the “easy” one this week at País Vasco.At least the weather was in a cooperative mood, with temperatures well into the 70s and no hint of rain. That is supposed to change, however, with cold, wind and rain forecasted to blow in sometime on Friday.
Vande Velde joined the day’s main breakaway in the open ing hour of racing, forging a four-man jailbreak over the Cat. 2 Alto de Urkiola, one of the most famous climbs in this mountainous region of northern Spain.
Also slipping away were Van den Broeck (Silence-Lotto), Albasini (Columbia-Highroad) and Philip Deignan (Cervélo TestTeam).
The leaders quickly opened up a gap that grew to nearly eight minutes. With none of the riders a major GC threat (Van den Broucke was best-placed at 13 minutes back), the peloton was convinced to give them a chance to take control of the stage.
Deignan lost contact on the day’s last climb at the Alto de Beci with 33km to go.
Caisse d’Epargne and Euskaltel-Euskadi helped Astana up the chase in the final hour of racing, bringing the gap under four minutes with 10km to go.
With the break all but assured, it became a cat and mouse game for the three attackers, even though the peloton kept pouring it on, reducing the gap to 2:30 with 3km to go.
Vande Velde got on the wheel of Albasini, with Van den Broucke on the third wheel and pinched up a gainst the barriers. Albasini cranked up his sprint with 175 meters to go and blasted to victory.
“I wanted to test myself today, so this was a great chance in this stage. I am not racing again until the Giro, so I wanted to go for it at least one day,” said Vande Velde, a winner of a stage in Paris-Nice last month. “I tried to get away a few times at the end there, but Albasini was all over me, so I knew he was strong. I kind of gave up on the sprint when Van den Broucke came past me, but that’s OK. I am very satisfied. I will try to take it easy tomorrow and save something for the time trial on Saturday.”
The 49th Vuelta al País Vasco continues Friday with in the 169km fifth stage from Gueñes to Zalla in yet another hilly and demanding stage. The seven-climb course tackles the Cat. 1 Alto de Ubal at 50km and loops over a string of four third-category climbs in the closing 50km, including the Alto de Beci with 11.5km to go that’s sure to deliver attacks.
