Coming into the final kilometer it was Quickstep at the head of the peloton, with Columbia nowhere in sight. 500 meters later, Goss was leading Cavendish and everyone else was trying to catch up.
Teamwork and homework made the difference: HTC-Columbia worked to get Cav to the front with 500 meters to go, and Cavendish and his leadout rider matt Goss had studied ahead of time to know that they had room to make a break on the sharp right-hand corner 500 meters out.
While other teams approached the turn gingerly, Goss and Cavendish dive-bombed up the inside and stole the lead.
Cavendish won the stage comfortably, taking time to bunny-hop across the line. Cervelo’s Thor Hushovd started the sprint on Cav’s wheel, with Liquigas rider Daniale Bennati right behind. Neither could match the pace of the Manx missile in full flight.
A Tough Break, a Hard Chase
Stage 13 was a medium mountain stage, with two Cat 3 climbs; a perfect stage for a breakaway, except that the final 35 km sloped gently downhill, making a great stage for the peloton to catch the break and set up a bunch sprint.
A group of five riders—Allan Davis (Astana), Olivier Kaisen (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Giampaolo Cheula (Footon-Servetto), Manuele Mori (Lampre) and Niki Terpstra (Milram)—escaped at the 30-km mark, and opened a lead of nearly eight minutes.
Halfway through the stage Garmin-Transitions and HTC-Columbia decided it was time and began the chase. The peloton closed the gap steadily, cutting it to one minute with 16 km left.
At 10 km, Garmin really turned on the speed, topping 60 kph—not just to run down the break, but to hurt the peloton. Garmin sprinter Tyler Farrar had been contesting intermediate sprint points all through the stage, trying to wrest the green sprinter’s jersey from Mark Cavendish.
Garmin wanted Farrar to win this stage, and they worked for it. Dave Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde raised the pace to nearly 70 kph briefly, hoping to help their man.
The breakaway riders worked together and really made a race of it. They didn't attack one another, and swapped turns steadily until, 5 km out it became clear that Olivier Kaisn was running on empty.Milram's Niki Terpstra then took off alone.
Most of the break was caught by 4 km. Niki Terpstra kept driving, but within a kilometer he too was caught. Columbia and Quickstep moved to the head of the peloton, pushing aside Garmin; then at 2 km out, it was all Quickstep with a long line of riders in the lead.
Coming into the final kilometer, Quickstep was in command, with Liquigas and Katusha trying to set up. Then, just before the turn, Garmin’s David Millar jumped to the lead.
Back a bit, unmarked, Goss and Cavendish had been biding their time, and when everyone else tensed up to take the final corner, not realizing how wide it was (despite sharper than 90 degrees) The Columbia pair rocketed down the right-hand side and caught everybody off guard.
The top of the leaderboard remained the same after Stage 13, but Stage 14 will surely change that. With two cat 2 climbs in the final third and a Beyond-Category mountaintop finish, it is certain the GC contenders will contest this one hotly.
The final climb, six kilometers with the final two at 18 percent, could break many a rider, particularly if the pace is high up the preceding climbs. Everyone who wants the overall win, will need to excel on the final climb.
|
Vuelta a España Stage Thirteen |
|||
|
|
Rider |
Team |
Time |
|
1 |
Mark Cavendish |
HTC-Columbia |
4:50:18 |
|
2 |
Thor Hushovd |
Cervelo Test Team |
+0:00:00 |
|
3 |
Daniele Bennati |
Liquigas-Doimo |
+0:00:00 |
|
4 |
Yauheni Hutarovich |
FDJ |
+0:00:00 |
|
5 |
Manuel Cardoso |
Footon-Servetto |
+0:00:00 |
|
6 |
Tyler Farrar |
Garmin-Transitions |
+0:00:00 |
|
7 |
Denis Galimzyanov |
Team Katusha |
+0:00:00 |
|
8 |
Koldo Fernandez De Larrea |
Euskaltel-Euskadi |
+0:00:00 |
|
9 |
Theo Bos |
Cervélo Test Team |
+0:00:00 |
|
10 |
Johnnie Walker |
Footon-Servetto |
+0:00:00 |
|
2010 Vuelta a Espana General Classification |
|||
|
|
Rider |
Team |
Time |
|
1 |
Igor Anton |
Euskaltel-Euskadi |
51:37:45 |
|
2 |
Vincenzo Nibali |
Liquigas-Doimo |
0:00:45 |
|
3 |
Xavier Tondo |
Cervélo Test Team |
0:01:04 |
|
4 |
Joaquin Rodriguez |
Katusha |
0:01:17 |
|
5 |
Ezequiel Mosquera |
Xacobeo Galicia |
0:01:29 |
|
6 |
Marzio Bruseghin |
Caisse d’Epargne |
0:01:57 |
|
7 |
Ruben Plaza |
Caisse d’Epargne |
0:02:07 |
|
8 |
Rigoberto Uran |
Caisse d’Epargne |
0:02:13 |
|
9 |
Nicolas Roche |
Ag2R |
0:02:30 |
|
10 |
Frank Schleck |
Saxo Bank |
0:02:30 |
