Italian sprinter takes his first win of the race in a Sprint Royale
Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) won the seventh stage of the Vuelta a España between Murcia and Orihuela in a bunch sprint. Ale-Jet outsprinted Manx Express Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) and Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) at the end of the predominantly flat 187.1km stage.
After leaving the city of Murcia the course headed north and east towards the finish town of Orihuela, before following a figure-eight around the plains of the Murcia province; with only one 3rd category climb, coming 60km from the finish, a sprint was almost inevitable.
“What a beautiful victory,” said Petacchi after the stage, “it gives me huge satisfaction especially because I took it thanks to my team mates’ efforts.
“I can remember perfectly every metre in the last 2 km,” he explained. “First, [Grega] Bole took the head of the bunch, raising the speed and ending his performance at 700 metres; then it was [Angelo] Furlan’s turn and he was fantastic in leading the bunch just to the chicane, which [Danilo] Hondo entered at full speed.
“I followed Hondo’s wheel and when I overtook him I was riding at a speed much higher than my opponents. In these early stages I have ridden with the target of a victory in my mind; I was focused only on that success, so now I’m very happy for having reached this victory”.
The high temperatures returned to the race for stage 7, with 42 degrees centrigrade reported at the start. Within the first 2km of the stage Jorge Martin Montenegro (Andalucia-Cajasur), Martin Pedersen (Footon-Servetto), Dominik Roels (Milram) and Vladimir Isaichev (Xacobeo-Galicia) escaped. This was clearly to be the breakaway of the day and after 25km the four riders held an advantage of 10’27” over the peloton before the sprinters’ teams reacted.
Lampre-Farnese Vini. HTC-Columbia and Garmin-Transitions all sent men to the front of the peloton and the gap began to slowly come down. After 70km the quartet’s lead was reduced to 7’40”, and the FDJ team sent a man forward to help with the chase.
At the 100km point the lead had been reduced to 6 minutes and was continuing to fall steadily; as the four riders started the 3rd category Puerto de Hondón de los Frailes, the only climb of the day 18km later, they led by just 5’20”.
At the top of the climb, which featured sections of up to 13%, the leaders were just 3’50” ahead, with Lampre-Farnese Vini, HTC-Columbia, Garmin-Transitions and FDJ still leading. With 45km to go though, the Lampre-Farnese Vini team upped the pace, taking more than a minute from the quartet in the next 10km.
The lead continued to fall and, with 20km to go and the advantage just 2 minutes, the FDJ team took over to try to give Yauheni Hutarovich his second stage win. With 10km to go the four riders had just 41 seconds but, despite the strong crosswinds, refused to give up. With 5km to go though, they were eventually caught, having been in the lead for 180km; Petacchi’s Lampre-Farnese Vini team took control once more.
Keeping the pace high there was no way that any late counterattacks were possible the Lampre team peeled off one by one to deliver Petacchi to the final few hundred metres. As the Italian opened up his sprint Stauff and Haedo tried to come past but faded and Cavendish took second place.
Finishing in tenth position, among the sprinters, Philippe Gilbert (OmegaPharma-Lotto) holds on to his race lead. All of the other riders in the top ten finished in the peloton and so there are no changes at the top of the standings.
Result stage 7
1. Alessandro Petacchi (Bel) Lampre-Farnese Vini
2. Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Columbia
3. Juan Jose Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank
4. Andreas Stauff (Ger) Quick Step
5. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Transitions
6. Robert Förster (Ger) Team Milram
7. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
8. Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Team Astana
9. Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ
10. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) OmegaPharma-Lotto
Standings after stage 7
1. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) OmegaPharma-Lotto
2. Igor Antón (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi @ 10s
3. Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha
4. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo @ 12s
5. Peter Velits (Svk) HTC-Columbia @ 16s
6. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) HTC-Columbia @ 29s
7. Xavier Tondo (Spa) Cervélo TestTeam @ 49s
8. Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank @ 50s
9. Ruben Plaza (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne @ 54s
10. Ezequiel Mosquera (Spa) Xacobeo-Galicia @ 55s