Race’s leading pair finishes together on final mountain stage
Javier Moreno (Caja Rural) secured his overall victory on the final stage of the Vuelta a Asturias, between Oviedo and the Alto del Naranco, but was secure enough in the overall standings to allow the summit finish to be taken by overall standings rival Constantino Zaballa (Miche-Guerciotti).
The two riders escaped on the final climb to the finish, with the rest of the race’s overall contenders crossing the line in ones and twos behind them; British climber Charly Wegelius (UnitedHelathcare) was third, 4 seconds behind the leading pair.
“It was a difficult day,” Moreno told biciciclismo.com after the stage. “They have attacked us uphill and downhill, whenever they could, but the team has always been attentive and has proven to be the strongest by far.
“I felt good,” he said, “but it helps you see a teammates there, for what José Herrada did for me in the final stretch was amazing; I’m sure the others were almost afraid of the rhythm that he was putting down.”
The almost inevitable breakaway came when Gorka Izaguirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Rafael Infantino (EPM-UNE) and Kirill Sveshnikov (Russia) escaped early in the stage. As neither was any threat to Moreno’s overall lead the Caja Rural team allowed them to get away, but policed the gap, which was only allowed to get a maximum of two minutes.
As the pace in the peloton increased towards the end of the stage, the three riders were eventually picked up as they began the third category climb to El Violeo with just under 12km to go.
The pace set by Herrada was such that the front group was soon down to just the overall favourites, but over the top of the climb Zaballa, who began the day just 13 seconds behind Moreno, attacked and only Moreno was able to follow him.
On the 3.8km climb to the finish Wegelius managed to make contact with the two Spanish leaders, but Zaballa attacked once more. Moreno was able to go with his rival but was unable to match the Miche-Guerciotti rider in the sprint.