HTC-Columbia’s Manx Missile fires once again to jump clear of his rivals
Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) won the thirteenth stage of the Vuelta a España between Rincón de Soto and Burgos in a bunch sprint. The Manx Missile took his second successive stage in the race, as the peloton left it late to catch the day’s long breakaway, ahead of Norwegian champion Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) and Daniele Bennati (Liquigas-Doimo).
The 196km parcours was that of a classic transitional stage as the race passes between Andorra and the mountains of the Pyrénées, and the Cantabrian mountains of Asturias. Two 3rd category climbs inside the last 60km offered some hope to breakaways that the sprinters may not make it, but the downhill and flat run in did not.
“Matt [Goss, Cavendish’s lead out man] was going so fast, I was struggling to stay on his wheel at times,” said Cavendish afterwards. “He dive-bombed down the side of the bunch and got me into the perfect position. Normally I’d go with 250 metres to go, but I had to hold it until 170 metres this time. Hopefully he’ll get a stage win as well before the race ends.
“We were sad to lose [Hayden Roulston, who was forcedabandon early in the stage],” he added, “and I hope he gets better soon.”
Once again, Cavendish’s winning margin was a long one, with the Manxman’s kick pulling him clear of the rest. He had enough time and composure to do a “bunny-hop”, lifting both wheels off the road, as he crossed the line.
“I just like to do stuff like that and I’m sure one of our partners will be able to use that,” he explained. “I work with a great group of partners and suppliers and it’s nice to be able to give them something back.”
As usual there were a great number of attempted attacks in the opening kilometres; with a stiff headwind blowing though, and a number of teams unwilling to allow a breakaway without one of their number in it, none was successful.
The sprint at Calahorra, after just 8.4km, was taken by Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions), ahead of Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step) and Cavendish, meaning that the American moved to within 6 points of the Manxman.
Eventually, after 29km of attempts, Giampaolo Cheula (Footon-Servetto) and Manuele Mori (Lampre-Farnese Vini) managed to get away. After a few kilometres they were joined by Allan Davis (Astana), Olivier Kaisen (OmegaPharma-Lotto) and Dutch champion Niki Terpstra (Milram), and the break was on.
Once the quintet was established, the peloton well and truly sat up. After having been away for just 5km the lead was already 1’50”, after 10km it was up to 3’14”.
After 53km of the stage, with the break having been away for just 24km, the leaders’ advantage was up to 7’58”. Mori was by far the best placed rider of the five, 52’52” behind race leader Igor Antón (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and the orange-clad Basque team was quite happy to have an easy day.
Only when the sprinters’ teams, first Garmin-Transitions for Farrar, then HTC-Columbia for Cavendish, came forward did the gap stop rising; with the two teams’ riders working it soon began to fall.
At the 70km point the lead had reduced to around 6 minutes, where it stabilised for some time. After the 100km point, as the Quick Step team joined the chase on behalf of Weylandt, it dramatically dropped to under 4 minutes, dropping to 2’50” by the time the five leaders reached the foot of the 3rd category Alto de Pradilla after 130km.
As they were leading their sprinters Quick Step, HTC-Columbia and Garmin-Transitions eased the pace on the 6km climb. As Davis crossed the summit, with a slight lead over the other four, the gap had increased slightly, but as the teams regrouped on the descent it began to fall once more.
At the foot of the 3rd category Alto de Valmala after 55km the five riders were just 2’08”, and as Quick Step led the peloton up the climb it began to tumble further. After the summit it began to rise slightly but HTC-Columbia moved forward once more, joined again by Garmin-Transitions, and with 10km to go it was down to 40 seconds. The breakaway’s days, it seemed, were numbered.
The lead continued to tumble under the impetus of the sprinters’ teams, and with 5km to go the break was almost over. As the peloton was no more than 500 metres behind, Terpstra attacked the other four in a suicidal attempt to go it alone.
Cheula, Davis, Kaisen and Mori were caught with 4km to; Terpstra managed to hang on for a further kilometre before he was finally absorbed by the flying peloton.
As the peloton entered the final kilometre Goss brought Cavendish forward, but as the peloton took the final turn with 600 metres to go Quick Step, Garmin-Transitions, Lampre-Farnese Vini and FDJ were the teams that appeared to have control of the peloton.
At 500 metres Goss launched his lead out, pulling Cavendish to the front, and as the Manxman launched his sprint he pulled clear of the rest; having enough time to execute his unique celebration. Hushovd and Bennati crossed the line close together, but more than a length behind Cavendish.
With no action in the overall classification Antón holds on to his race leader’s red jersey, 45 seconds ahead of Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) and 1’04” ahead of Xavier Tondo (Cervélo TestTeam).
Result stage 13
1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Columbia
2. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervélo TestTeam
3. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
4. Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ
5. Manuel Cardoso (Por) Footon-Servetto
6. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Transitions
7. Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Team Katusha
8. Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
9. Theo Bos (Ned) Cervélo TestTeam
10. Johnnie Walker (Aus) Footon-Servetto
Standings after stage 13
1. Igor Antón (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo @ 45s
3. Xavier Tondo (Spa) Cervélo TestTeam @ 1’04”
4. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha @ 1’17”
5. Ezequiel Mosquera (Spa) Xacobeo-Galicia @ 1’29”
6. Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Caisse d’Epargne @ 1’57”
7. Ruben Plaza (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne @ 2’07”
8. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Caisse d’Epargne @ 2’13”
9. Nicholas Roche (Irl) AG2R-La Mondiale @ 2’30”
10. Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank @ 2’30”