August 25/13 17:18 pm - Vuelta a Espana: Stage 2

Posted by Editoress on 08/25/13
 

Roche wins atop Monte da Groba, Nibali moves into the lead

Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) claimed the first stage win of his career in a Grand Tour at the age of 29 as he sprinted to victory ahead of Dani Moreno (Katusha) and Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R-La Mondiale) atop the spectacular Monte da Groba above Baiona on the south coast of Galicia. Crossing the line fourteen seconds later, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) took over the lead from his team-mate Janez Brajkovic.

The escapees 
photo: Graham Watson

Right after the atart, Greg Henderson (Lotto-Belisol) initiated a three-man breakaway and he was soon joined by Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural) and Alex Rasmussen (Garmin-Sharp) whose team-mate Koldo Fernandez didn’t take the start due to the consequences of his crash during the inaugural team time trial on Saturday.

photo: Graham Watson

It was another beautiful day on the seaside of Galicia with everyone having the final climb of Monte da Groba in mind. The leading trio reached a maximum advantage of 12:48 at Ponteareas (km 82) where Rasmussen won the intermediate sprint. Then Lampre-Merida came up to help alongside Astana at the head of the peloton. The gap was reduced to 1:30 by the bottom of the final climb with 12km to go. Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural) counter attacked as soon as Rasmussen and Aramendia were reined in. Due to the high pace set by Movistar, the front group was reduced to fourty riders but didn’t include race favorites Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) and Sergio Henao (Team Sky) who were dropped and woild lose 2:41. The Red jersey  Brajkovic lost contact with 1.5km to go.

Leopold König (NetApp-Endura) launched a brilliant attack and only Moreno, Roche and Pozzovivo managed to make it across. The Italian tried his luck but was passed by Roche 500 metres before the finish line.  

Stephen Roch wins photo: Graham Watson

Three years after winning the Vuelta in Madrid, Nibali will enjoy riding with the red jersey again during stage 3 from Vigo to Mirador de Lobeira (184.8 km).

Nicolas Roche : "It’s a relief ! "

Nicolas, you came 6th overall in the 2010 Vuelta, this is your eleventh Grand Tour but today, it’s your first stage win. How do you feel about it?
It’s a relief. After getting all those placing in the Grand Tours, I was wondering about my capacities and I was very frustrated to not making it. Recently, my team-mate Michael Rogers told me it would come soon, necessarily. And here I am, I win the first stage after the team time trial in the Vuelta, which is my favorite Grand Tour. I’m very happy.

There are many good riders in your team. How are the roles distributed?
For myself, everything was made clear during the months of November and December: I was going to ride the Tour at the service of the team and of course Alberto Contador. It was also agreed that I’d get more freedom at the Vuelta.

Does this win give you the opportunity to become the leader of Saxo-Tinkoff ?
We’re going to work as a team. With Roman Kreuziger and myself, we have what we need to contest the overall classification. Rafal Majka can do it as well. He’s young. He has done the Giro (7th) this year but he’s very strong even he lacks experience. This is only the beginning of the Vuelta.

Your team has been criticised a lot by your sponsor Oleg Tinkoff during and after the Tour. What was your reaction?
We were all very sad. I can only say that Alberto Contador and his team-mates have given 100% during the Tour. But there was stronger than us, it’s as simple as that. Tinkoff can think and say what he wants but it’s sad…


New race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana): “In the last hill, the Movistar team has set the pace very high with Eros Capecchi and Sylvester Szmyd. It’s been controlled until the final sprint that has lasted for 500 metres. It was a fast finish, very suitable for Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodriguez. As for myself, I was only behaving with regards to my ambitions on GC. I was led by Paolo Tiralongo and Jakob Fuglsang very well. My team has worked from start to finish. We’ve looked at controlling the situation and it’s gone all right. My directeur sportif Alexandr Shefer kept me informed about the riders dropping off [Samuel Sanchez and Sergio Henao mainly]. They have paid for their efforts, which is understandable the day after a team time trial but there are many uphill finishes at the Vuelta. That’s why we have to live it day by day. It’s worth trying to keep the red jersey. We’ll do so with the Astana team. Here, the most dangerous people are Joaquim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde, but today, Nicolas Roche has done an important action for winning the stage.”

Former race leader Janez Brajkovic (Astana): “It hasn’t been a very good day for me as I was not going as well as I wanted. I’ve lost a bit of time at the end but that’s not important. We’re here for Nibali. I’m glad he took over from me. It’s been nice to wear the red jersey for one day.”

Results from the second stage in Spain