Spaniard takes stage two, Henao second again on punchy uphill finish
Dani Moreno (Katusha) made it two for two in the Vuelta a Burgos on Thursday, taking control inside the final 400 metres on another category-three uphill finish. Moreno grabbed stage one by a nose ahead of Sergio Henao (Sky Procycling) to take the first leader’s jersey. Henao was second again on stage two, but wasn’t able to mount the same challenge on Thursday, with a full two seconds between the pair.
Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) took third, with Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) fourth. Olympic silver medalist Rigoberto Uran (Sky Procycling) is racing in Spain, and sprinted to fifth.
An early breakaway was brought back with 15km to go, but the peloton stayed together with everyone eyeing the final ascent of the Alto del Castillo, the second category-three hilltop finish in a row. Katusha and Movistar controlled under the ten-kilometre banner until FDJ-BigMat took control.
Sky Procycling came to the front with six kilometres to race, controlling into the final thousand metres. Wearing the sprinter’s jersey with Moreno in the leader’s colours, Henao made a bid, but Moreno came around with 250 metres left. The Spaniard produced a turn of speed that no one could equal. Moreno again appreciated his team-mates for setting him up.
“I want to thank my team-mates because they allowed me to be in fourth or fifth position when the last climb started,” Moreno explained. “Especially [Joaquim Rodriguez] was incredible. He was great when he launched my sprint, he imposed a very tough pace, and I had to do nothing but give my best in the last 300 metres.
“Actually these stages were very suitable to my characteristics, but I admit I’m very satisfied with my shape at this time. Tomorrow should be for sprinters, but the day after tomorrow there will be the stage I won last year. Since we’ve done a great job until now, we can try to repeat the victory in the general classification after Joaquim’s win in 2011.”
After an early escape failed, David Belda (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon) and Romain Sicard (Euskaltel-Euskadi) got away and built a lead of 2’08”. The gap came down a bit after 60 kilometres were gone, allowing Carlos Verona (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon), Javier Ramirez (Andalucia) and Aritz Etxebarria (Orbea) to join up.
There wasn’t much harmony in the quintet, and their lead never exceeded two minutes as Katusha kept them close. With 40km to go, Movistar, Colombia-Coldeportes, and Androni-Giocattoli started pitching in with the chase.
With 20km to go and the breakaway so close, several riders jumped from the peloton, but as the speeds got higher, everyone was pulled back. With riders coming back in pairs, Ramirez put in an acceleration before being hauled back with 10km to race. Team Sky seemed to have Henao set up, but the young Colombian was no match for Moreno.