Moncoutie takes solo victory

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David Moncoutié (Cofidis) took his third Vuelta a España stage win in as many years when he edged clear of his breakaway companions on the agonisingly steep slopes of the Alto Xorret de Catì. The Frenchman stretched his advantage on the 3km plunge to the line to take a stirring victory, while further down the road the first major shake up of the overall classification took place as Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi) did just enough to nudge himself into the red jersey ahead of Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo).

“I had marked off the stage to Xorret de Catì and the scenario was exactly as I predicted,” said a delighted Moncoutié afterwards, as he eyes a third Vuelta mountains title in as many years. He also took time to remember the two men cycling has lost this week. “I want to dedicate today’s win to Laurent Fignon and to the staff member of Team Sky who died yesterday,” he explained. “There are more important things than sport.”

His sentiments were echoed by Igor Anton, who dedicated his red jersey to Gonzalez. “He worked for Euskaltel for several years. I thought I’d try to win the stage for him. I didn’t manage that, but this jersey is for him,” Anton said. He was glad to take that red jersey after a suspense-filled wait at the line. “I didn’t worry at first because I just thought Joaquin Rodriguez would take it since I thought he’d gained a time bonus early in the stage. I didn’t realise that it had been cancelled because of the crash,” Anton admitted.

For his part, Rodriguez was clearly disappointed to miss out on the red jersey in such circumstances. “I went for the first sprint to get the jersey,” the Katusha rider said. “I didn’t understand why it didn’t count, I only found out later that it was because of the crash. Tomorrow is another opportunity to take the lead. I want it badly.”

While the two Spanish riders were among the most aggressive in the finale, it was the Italian Nibali who was arguably the most impressive, covering the moves with an imperious ease and laying down a serious marker as to his aspirations of overall victory in Madrid. Meanwhile, pre-race favourites Fränk Schleck (Saxo Bank) and Denis Menchov (Rabobank) both ceded ground on a testing final climb that blew the race apart.

Schleck may have lost just 1:07 but the psychological blow was palpable. “Of course I expected to be in front, but I’ll give it my all in the days to come,” he said afterwards. For Menchov, now 3:16 down overall, the situation is worse again. “I got caught in a crash and my right knee was painful all through,” he said. “Because of that, I couldn’t push on the pedals on the final climb. For now, it’s just a bad day, but we’ll see tomorrow if the consequences of the crash are even worse than that.”

The races within a race

In essence, it was a tale of two races, namely the hunt for the stage win and the fight for the red jersey. Moncoutié was part of a five-man breakaway that was formed 48km into the stage when he attacked in the company of Johann Tschopp (Bbox-Bouygues Telecom) and they were quickly joined by José Luis Arrieta (Ag2r), Serafin Martinez (Xacobeo Galicia) and Assan Bazayev (Astana). With Moncoutié the best-placed overall almost 14 minutes back, the quintet posed no threat to the main contenders and when they reached the foot of the 4km climb of the Alto Xorret de Catì with four minutes in hand over the peloton, it was clear that this race within a race was going to go the distance.

At the foot of the climb, José Luis Arrieta went to the front in a vain attempt to crack his companions. Bereft of the ability to make a telling acceleration on slopes like the Xorret de Catì’s pitches of 12 percent, it was the Spaniard’s only chance of glory and his tempo soon caused problems for both Bazayev and Martinez. Once they reached the steepest sections of the climb, however, Moncoutié took over and he slowly edged away from the group. Only Tschopp could offer any significant resistance, but when he gave up Moncoutié’s wheel 1500m from the summit there was only going to be one winner on the day.

Meanwhile, the main peloton hit the final climb with a number of riders eyeing Philippe Gilbert’s (Omega Pharma-Lotto) red jersey. Cervélo’s pacemaking had whittled the group down to around 70 riders and as soon as the road pitched upwards it was Liquigas-Doimo who took over, giving an early indication of their leader Vincenzo Nibali’s strength. Indeed, Oliver Zaugg set such a high pace that he briefly went off the front himself before being caught and passed by Rigoberto Uran (Caisse d’Epargne).
Uran’s acceleration lit the blue touch paper and Carlos Sastre (Cervélo) sparked the major move when he attacked just ahead of the steepest part of the climb. When he was reeled back, Joaquin Rodriguez leapt clear and brought a smooth-pedalling Vincenzo Nibali with him. On two occasions he tried to drop the Italian, but each time Nibali stood firm.

When they sat up, Igor Anton managed to bridge the gap and put in a dig of his own, but again the Spanish Armada was unable to sink Nibali, who absorbed the accelerations without any apparent difficulty. “Nibali is the most dangerous adversary,” Anton admitted afterwards. “He’s in form and motivated.” Meanwhile, red jersey Philippe Gilbert was dropped as Menchov and Schleck too began to suffer.

Cervélo duo Xavier Tondo and Sastre were just about managing to stay in contact with this select group along with Nicolas Roche (Ag2r) but they had their work cut out when Nibali himself went to the front over the top of the climb and lifted the pace. On the short, sharp descent to the finish they hunted down the remnants of the breakaway, but Moncoutié had already done more than enough to seal a deserved stage win. He came home 54 seconds clear of Martinez, Tschopp and Arrieta, while Rodriguez won the sprint for fifth ahead of Nibali and Anton, 1:29 behind.

Rodriguez thought he had done enough to dislodge Anton in the finale and move into the red jersey but after an agonising wait, the judges decided to award Anton the same time as Rodriguez in the sprint and so the Euskaltel-Euskadi man moves into the red jersey. Nibali, at just two seconds, can enjoy close proximity to the overall lead without the burden of the red jersey, which may prove crucial in a race as difficult to control as the Vuelta. Meanwhile, the valiant Gilbert crossed the line 3:30 down on Moncoutiè, losing the red jersey but gaining many more admirers after a brave and stylish defence of his overall lead.

The early exchanges

The stage began under a cloud with a minute’s silence in honour of the late Sky soigneur Txema Gonzalez, who tragically passed away in Seville yesterday as a result of a sepsis blood infection. The sombre atmosphere at the stage start was added to by the news that the Sky team had decided to withdraw from the race en masse as a mark of respect to the popular Spaniard.

When the racing did get under way, it was marred by a series of crashes. Among the crash victims were race leader Gilbert, Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia), Christophe Le Mevel (FDJ), David Arroyo (Caisse d’Epargne) and Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini), who appeared to be the worst-affected. On the day’s opening climb, the category three Puerto de Onil at 24km, David Moncoutié attempted to break clear with Oscar Pujol (Cervélo) and Serafin Martinez.

When they were reeled back in on the descent, the determined Frenchman simply tried again, and this time he was successful in pulling clear with Tschopp, Martinez, Arrieta and Bazayev. The quintet quickly established a sizable lead over a tranquil peloton and their solidarity was only dampened at the summit of each of the day’s climbs, where mountains classification leader Martinez repeatedly outsprinted Moncoutié.

Entering the final 50km, they held a massive 7:40 gap over the peloton, but a stint at the front from Cervélo, and in particular Ireland’s Philip Deignan, knocked almost four minutes off that gap inside 20km. However, with nobody other than Cervélo willing to take up the pacemaking that far out, the pursuit petered out and the breakaway survived to the foot of the climb.

From there on in, it was a question of who had the freshest legs to cope with the savagely steep climbs of the Xorret de Catì, and ultimately it was the courageous Moncoutié who had enough in the tank to take a fine victory. In the race behind, meanwhile, Anton, Rodriguez and Nibali can all take something from a testing climb that offered some interesting clues as to the final destination of the red jersey.