October 6/09 14:04 pm - Vuelta a Chihuahua Internacional: Stage 1

Posted by Editoress on 10/6/09
 

Javier Benitez (Contentpolis-AMPO) has returned to his winning ways in Chihuahua, where just last year he had three stage wins. Benitez won in Cuauhtemoc, at the end of the stage that began in Chihuahua and covered 118 miles (194 kilometres), beating Italy's Cristian Benatti (ISD) and Dutchman Michael Kreder (Rabobank).

The stage had no significant impact on the GC, and Michael Rasmussen (Tecos) maintains the overall lead, with the same time as Dani Moreno (Caisse d'Epargne).  Rasmussen has one second on Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing), three on Francisco Mancebo ( Rock Racing) and four seconds on Gregorio Ladino (Tecos).

A break of five riders went clear 19 kilometres into the race: David Vitoria (Rock Racing), José Gómez (Canel's Turbo) Andrey Amador (Caisse d'Epargne), Gorka Izaguirre (Contentpolis-COPE) and Eric Boily (Planet Energy), with the gap growing to five minutes in 30 kilometres, forcing Tecos to pull the peloton.

Boily was the first to drop off the break, followed by Gomez on the only climb of the day and finally Izaguirre, by an untimely puncture, leaving Amador and Vitoria left as the only escapees with a minute gap that was quickly brought back by the sprinters' teams in the final four kilometers.