Nieve and teammate Amets Txurruka joined the first break which survived, halfway through the stage, and pushed the pace, then led the attack on the break, with Luis-Leon Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne), Thomas Peterson (Garmin), and Kevin de Weert (Quick Step).
With 8 km left, Nieve attacked and dropped everyone, crossing the line 1:07 ahead of second-place Fränk Schleck. This was the 26-year-old Spaniard’s first Grand Tour victory.
“It was extremely hard, Nieve told Fromspoprts.com. “If you wait all the way until the end, you don’t know if you are going to win s o I gave it everything I could. I gave everything foe my team, because they needed it, really.”
Schleck Attacks, Nibali Cracks
The real action was behind the escape group, where Vincenzo Nibali was trying to defend the red jersey. Nibali got onto every early attack, making sure they were shut down. Liquigas pulled strongly up the first three categorized climbs, and delivered their leader to the foot of the final Beyond-Category Cotobello seemingly in good shape.
Cotobello is a long (10 km) climb of aboput eight percent, with a few ramps up to ten percent—a rhythm climb, well-suited to Nibali and perhaps less good for the climbers, like Mosquera, who shine on the steepest climbs.
Saxo Bank’s Fränk Schleck attacked at ton the second-last climb, the Cat One Alto de la Cobertoria. The peloton pulled him back writhing a few kilometers, but the increased pace thinned the ranks considerably.
A number of dropped riders made it back to the chase group on the long flat leading up to the final climb, but Schleck’s attack had weakened them. When the Belgian rider attacked again, two kilometers into the last climb, only Garmin-Transitions’ Thomas Danielson could respond.
Five km from the summit, Cervelo’s Carlos Sastre attacked. He caught Schleck and Danielson in less than a kilometer, and sailed right by. Schleck responded, Danielson couldn’t.
As Sastre passed, Schleck stood up and pushed harder, and Sastre dropped. As he passed under the three-kilometer banner, Schleck was only 600 meters behind the leaders.
Finally in the last two kilometers, the expected attacks began. First AG2R’s Nichiolas Roche took off from the chase group, and Nibali made no response. Then third-place Ezequiel Mosquera of Xacebo-Galicia attacked, as Nibali started slipping backwards. The pace had not weakened his opponents; instead, it was Nibali who cracked near the peak of the final climb.
Finally, in the last kilometer, second-place Joaquin Rodriguez made his move, and he timed it perfectly. The Katusha rider had saved everything for a final burst, and he sprinted uphill past Mosquera and Roche to finish fourth, securing the red jersey by a 33-second margin over Vincenzo Nibali.
A Rest Day, A Time Trial, A Final Climb
With Tuesday a rest day, and the time trial Wednesday, one has to wonder how secure Rodriguez might be as the leader. While neither are time trial specialists, Nibali would probably have the edge, but how will he recover on the rest day? Some riders recover all their strength on a rest day—look at Alberto Contador after the first rest day in the 2010 Tour de France. But sometimes riders lose their edge, as Christian Vande Velde did in the 2008 Tour.
The next chance for a big selection will be the penultimate stage, Stage 20, with a Cat Three, two Cat Ones, and another Beyond-Category finish. If Nibali rides a good time trial, the 2010 Vuelta could be deiced on the climb up Bola del Mundo.
|
Vuelta a España Stage Sixteen |
||||
|
|
Rider |
Team |
Time |
|
|
1 |
Mikel Nieve |
Euskaltel-Euskadi |
4:33:09 |
|
|
2 |
Fränk Schleck |
Team Saxo Bank |
+0:01:07 |
|
|
3 |
Kevin De Weert |
Quick Step |
+0:01:43 |
|
|
4 |
Joaquin Rodriguez |
Team Katusha |
+0:02:06 |
|
|
5 |
Luis-Leon Sanchez |
Caisse d’Epargne |
+0:02:10 |
|
|
6 |
Ezequiel Mosquera |
Xacobeo Galicia |
+0:02:12 |
|
|
7 |
David Garcia Dapena |
Xacobeo Galicia |
+0:02:15 |
|
|
8 |
Nicolas Roche |
Ag2R-La Mondiale |
+0:02:26 |
|
|
9 |
Carlos Sastre |
Cervélo Test Team |
+0:02:26 |
|
|
10 |
Vincenzo Nibali |
Liquigas-Doimo |
+0:02:26 |
|
|
2010 Vuelta a Espana General Classification |
||||
|
|
Rider |
Team |
Time |
|
|
1 |
Joaquin Rodriguez |
Katusha |
70:24:39 |
|
|
2 |
Vincenzo Nibali |
Liquigas-Doimo |
0:00:33 |
|
|
3 |
Ezequiel Mosquera |
Xacobeo Galicia |
0:00:53 |
|
|
4 |
Frank Schleck |
Saxo Bank |
0:02:16 |
|
|
5 |
Nicolas Roche |
Ag2R |
0:03:01 |
|
|
6 |
Peter Velits |
HTC-Columbia |
0:04:27 |
|
|
7 |
Thomas Danielson |
Garmin-Transitions |
0:04:29 |
|
|
8 |
Xavier Tondo |
Cervélo Test Team |
0:04:43 |
|
|
9 |
Carlos Sastre |
Cervelo |
0:04:53 |
|
|
10 |
David Garcia Dapena |
Xacobeo Galicia |
0:06:23 |
|
