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Barredo wins another for Liberty
Yankalilla, Australia - The Liberty Seguros team scored its second Tour Down Under stage win in as many days as Spaniard Carlos Barredo gambled and attacked in the final kilometers of Friday’s 154km third stage from Strathalbyn to Yankalilla on South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula.
Barredo’s win comes a day after teammate Allan Davis claimed a stage victory in Hahndorf. AG2R’s Simon Gerrans retains the overall lead, but admitted his bid for victory will hinge on how he handles the tough climb in the Tour’s fourth and penultimate stage on Saturday.
Barredo took a gutsy stage win after attacking his leading group with around 15km to go, coming over the finish line with over a minute to spare to hand the Liberty team their second stage victory in as many days. For Barredo, a teammate of defending TDU champion Luis Leon Sanchez, the win comes after the frustration of missing the Tour’s most decisive break on stage 1.
"I was disappointed after the first day when I was out of the general classification because I came here with that in mind as well of course to help Luis (Leon Sanchez) defend his title," Barredo said. "So besides looking at overall with Luis we've been taking it stage by stage and trying to get in the winning move each day which I did today so I am very happy to win.”
The 24-year-old-Barredo won in a time of 3:51:03, 32 seconds clear of Daniel Becke (Milram), a member of Germany’s Sydney Olympic team pursuit gold medalist squad. Becke's efforts earned him the lead in the SA Lotteries Sprint Classification after he won both intermediate sprints of the day, the first at Goolwa at the 61.4km mark and the second at Port Elliott at 73.1km.
Davitamon-Lotto rider, Victorian Cadel Evans was third on the stage just behind Becke but his climbing skills early in the day saw him secure the lead in the Laubman and Pank King of the Mountain Classification when he won the battle over Newland Hill at the 85.6km mark.
The trio were part of an 11 man break that established in the first ten kilometers of today's race which set off in 100-degree temperatures. The attack suited race leader Simon Gerrans perfectly with his AG2R-Prevoyance team mates riding tempo on the front of the main field to keep the leaders under control but not reeling them in.
The leaders worked well together to maintain their advantage and as they hit the coastline the temperatures dropped to 85 degrees which provided some relief. At the 105km mark the action heated up when Matthew Hayman (UniSA-Australia) laid down the challenge. Barredo answered immediately but unfortunately for the Spaniard he dropped the chain on his bike and was forced to pull over for repairs.
In the meantime Alexandre Botcharov (Crédit Agricole) and Vincent Jerome (Bouygues Telecom) bridged the gap to Hayman. Barredo put in a superhuman effort to recover from the setback and rejoin the leaders while Becke, Evans, and Serge Pauwels (Chocolade Jacques) also joined the move.
But Barredo looked at the group and didn't like what he saw so he went it alone rocketing away to a solo lead which at one stage was more than a minute. Despite a strong chase by his rivals, Barredo wasn't caught and he crossed the line overjoyed with his victory.
"The victory of today's stage is compensation for all the hard work I have done during the off-season," he said. "I made a lot of sacrifices through training and watching my diet to get himself into shape for today so this victory compensates for those sacrifices.
"The reason we (Liberty Seguros-Würth) are going so well is because it is well known our Director, Manolo Saiz, gets his guys training very hard throughout the off-season," he explained. "I hope this form will continue from here so I can have a good Classics campaign which is my main objective for 2006." The overall picture
Gerrans still leads defending champion Luis Leon Sanchez, of Liberty Seguros, by seven seconds in the general classification, with Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen in third at 18. A handful of other potential winners sit not far back.
The 25-year-old Gerrans enjoyed another relatively comfortable day in the saddle, despite high temperatures and ceaselessly rolling terrain.
However his AG2R team played its cards perfectly. Once the early breakaway of 11 riders formed, the French sat at the front of the main peloton and set a fairly comfortable pace, monitoring the gap to ensure that Evans – the most threatening rider in the break – never got close to erasing his 12-minute deficit on GC.
AG2R did superb work, according to Gerrans, who knows however that a five-kilometer climb 20km from the end of Saturday's finish line could change everything.
“They (AG2R) took it easy when they could, and rode hard when they had to. No one in the breakaway was any threat to us. The boys rode at a superb race. I can't thank them enough," said Gerrans, the only Australian on a team composed largely of Frenchman.
He added: "We know that Saturday (climb) is going to be the toughest stage. But we're in a good position. I'm seven seconds up, which is better than being seven seconds down.
"It's going to be flat out on that climb. I think whoever (out of the race contenders) goes up the fastest and down the other side is going to win the race."
Sanchez, who won the race in style when Liberty dominated last year, is an emerging talent in Spain and will be expected to make his move on or before the steep climb which is 20km from the finish line.
Another rider Gerrans should be watching is Will Walker, the 20-year-old Rabobank rider - who is representing United Water here - who everyone in Australian cycling has hailed as potentially the biggest talent to emerge in years.
2006 Tour down Under - Stage 3
1. Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa), Liberty Seguros, 154kmin 3:51:03 (40.0kph),
2. Daniel Becke (Ger), Milram, at 1:32
3. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto
4. Serge Pauwels (Bel), Chocolade Jacques
5. Vincent Jerome (Fra), Bouygues Telecom, at 1:38
6. Mathew Hayman (Aus), UniSA-Australia, at 1:40
7. Alexandre Botcharov (Rus), Crédit Agricole
8. Jonathon Clarke (Aus), South Australia.com-AIS, at 5:26
9. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa), Liberty Seguros, at 5:56
10. Ben Day (Aus), UniSA-Australia
FullResults
Jacob's Creek General classification after stage 3
1. Simon Gerrans (Aus), Ag2r 11:11:32
2. Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa), Liberty Seguros, at 0:07
3. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto 0:18
4. William Walker (Aus), United Water-Australia U/23, at 0:46
5. Gene Bates (Aus), UniSA-Australia, at 1:45
6. Samuel Dumoulin (Fra), Ag2r, at 1:48
7. Simon Clarke (Aus), South Australia.com-AIS, at 3:19
8. Chris Jongewaard (Aus), UniSA-Australia
9. Sebastien Chavanel (Fra), Bouygues Telecom, at 3:41
10. Giovanni Visconti (Ita), Milram, at 4:18
FullResults
