Jan Svorada has won the first stage of the tour of Murcia, beating Angel Edo (Milaneza-MSS) and Massimo Strazzer (Phonak) in a bunch sprint.
But despite the mass finish the race was far from a sprinter-friendly procession. Attacks were constantly on the menu, with the first breakaway coming after just five kilometres. Adolfo Garcia (Ibanesto.Com) , Victor Hugo Pena (US Postal) and David Munoz (Kelme) got away and had a maximum lead of over five minutes, before the peloton reeled them in at 89km.
A brief lull followed, and then it was attack time again. 10km from the line, Rik Verbrugghe and Jens Heppner escaped in the most threatening break of the final stages. Maia and Kelme organised the chase and the peloton was a unit once again.
As the finish approached, Saeco, Maia and Lampre were active at the front, attempting to position their sprinters, but Svorada surged past them all to take the win.
"We just stayed quiet in the peloton all day," said Lampre-Daikin directeur sportif Brent Copeland, "since we knew that teams that were interested in GC would try and keep everything together. That's the way it went..." For Copeland's main man, Slovakian speedster Jan Svorada, this was his 60th career win. Svorada has won five stages in the Giro d'Italia and three in the Tour De France, among which was his dramatic victory last year on the Champs d'Elysees in Paris.
Copeland added, "For now, Jan is the race leader, but it's going to be very difficult for him to keep the (leader's) jersey until the finish. But (his) win has given us a good push... and now we'll just take it day to day. We've got some good guys like Pagliarini and the experience of Missaglia, Sciandri and Verstrepen. With the mountain stages and the TT, we can count on our Swiss rider Bertogliati."
Tomorrow's second stage is a rolling 160.3km from Beniel to San Javier.
1 Jan Svorada (Cze) Lampre-Daikin 4.20.27 2 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-MSS 3 Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Phonak 4 Sergio Villamil (Spa) Colchon Relax 5 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 6 Luciano Pagliarini (Bra) Lampre-Daikin 7 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank 8 Luca De Angeli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 9 Hendrik Van Dijck (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 10 Stefan Kupfernagel (Ger) Phonak 11 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 12 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 13 Antonio Cruz (USA) U.S. Postal 14 Martin Garrido (Arg) Colchon Relax 15 Sven Nijs (Bel) Rabobank 16 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Once-Eroski 17 Bjorn Leukemans (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 18 Werner Riebenbauer (Aut) Team Nuernberger 19 David Kopp (Ger) Team Telekom 20 Fabiano Fontanelli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 21 Sasa Sviben (Slo) Team Nuernberger 22 Victoriano Fernandez (Spa) Milaneza-MSS 23 Adolfo Garcia (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 24 Claus Michael Moller (Den) Milaneza-MSS 25 Arkadiusz Wojtas (Pol) Team Nuernberger 26 Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 27 Pablo Lastras (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 28 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Lotto-Adecco 29 Max Becker (Lux) Palmans-Collstrop 30 Jorge Ferrio (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 31 Christian Werner (Ger) Team Nuernberger 32 Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Phonak 33 Serguei Smetanine (Rus) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 34 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 35 Matthew White (Aus) U.S. Postal 36 Benjamin Noval (Spa) Colchon Relax 37 Ief Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 38 Francisco Cabello (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 39 Victor Hugo Peña (Col) U.S. Postal 40 Holger Sievers (Ger) Team Nuernberger 41 Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Lampre-Daikin 42 Jose Luis Martinez (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 43 Jorg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco-Longoni Sport 44 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) U.S. Postal 45 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 46 Ivan Ramiro Parra (Col) Once-Eroski 47 Juan Carlos Guillamon (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 48 Iban Herrero (Spa) Colchon Relax 49 Ren‚ Andrle (Cze) Once-Eroski 50 Joan Horrach (Spa) Milaneza-MSS 51 Harald Morscher (Aut) Team Nuernberger 52 Christian Pfannberger (Aut) Team Nuernberger 53 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 54 Abraham Olano (Spa) Once-Eroski 55 Gian Mario Ortenzi (Ita) Mercatone Uno 56 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 57 Javi Pascual Llorente (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 58 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 59 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 60 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Team Telekom 61 Jose Cayetano Julia (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 62 Mikel Artetxe (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 63 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 64 Jens Heppner (Ger) Team Telekom 65 Matthias Kessler (Ger) Team Telekom 66 Jan Hruska (Cze) Once-Eroski 67 Jose A. Pecharroman (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 68 Unai Osa (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 69 German Nieto (Spa) Colchon Relax 70 Christophe Detilloux (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 71 Thorwald Veneberg (Ned) Rabobank 72 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 73 Jose Antonio Garrido (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 74 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Once-Eroski 75 Chann Mcrae (USA) U.S. Postal 76 Kurt Van Lancker (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 77 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Ibanesto.Com 78 Daniel Schnider (Swi) Phonak 79 Jorge Capitan (Spa) Colchon Relax 80 Tom Stremersch (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 81 Thierry De Groote (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 82 Jose Manuel Maestre (Spa) Colchon Relax 83 Carlos Torrent (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 84 Gonçalo Amorim (Por) Milaneza-MSS 85 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 86 Dirk Reichl (Ger) Team Telekom 87 Iker Camaño (Spa) Phonak 88 David Muñoz (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 89 Gorka Beloki (Spa) Once-Eroski 90 Inigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 91 Peter Wuyts (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 92 Torsten Hiekmann (Ger) Team Telekom 93 Marco Pantani (Ita) Mercatone Uno 94 Joao Silva (Por) Milaneza-MSS 95 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Rabobank 96 Roberto Heras (Spa) U.S. Postal 97 Alber Lopez De Munain (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 98 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 99 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 100 Juan J De Los Angeles (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 101 Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Saeco-Longoni Sport 102 Carlos Carneiro (Por) Milaneza-MSS 103 Pablo Fernandez (Spa) Colchon Relax 104 Torsten Nitsche (Ger) Saeco-Longoni Sport 105 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 106 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 107 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank 108 Pablo Soler (Spa) Mercatone Uno 109 Daniel Clavero (Spa) Mercatone Uno 110 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) U.S. Postal 111 Marco Della Vedova (Ita) Mercatone Uno 112 Alessandr Spezialetti (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 113 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Milaneza-MSS 114 Kevin Livingston (USA) Team Telekom 115 David Herrero (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 116 Thomas Liese (Ger) Team Nuernberger 117 Addy Engels (Ned) Rabobank 118 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 119 Igor Pugaci MDA Saeco-Longoni Sport 120 Reto Bergmann (Swi) Phonak 121 Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) Lampre-Daikin 122 Giuseppe Guerini (Ita) Team Telekom 123 Jose Vicente Garcia (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 124 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak 125 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Lampre-Daikin 126 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Phonak 0.34 127 Maximilian Sciandri (GBr) Lampre-Daikin 0.44 128 David Zabriskie (USA) U.S. Postal 0.46 129 Salvatore Commesso (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 0.49 130 Ermanno Brignoli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 1.19 131 Isaac Galvez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 3.23 132 Tony Bracke (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 5.04 133 Juan Miguel Cuenca (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 7.11 134 Ricardo Valdez (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 7.18 Points 1 Jan Svorada (Cze) Lampre-Daikin 25 2 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-MSS 20 3 Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Phonak 16 4 Sergio Villamil (Spa) Colchon Relax 14 5 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 12 6 Luciano Pagliarini (Bra) Lampre-Daikin 10 7 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank 9 8 Luca De Angeli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 8 9 Hendrik Van Dijck (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 7 10 Stefan Kupfernagel (Ger) Phonak 6 11 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 5 12 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4 13 Antonio Cruz (USA) U.S. Postal 3 14 Martin Garrido (Arg) Colchon Relax 2 15 Sven Nijs (Bel) Rabobank 1 Mountains Alto Cuesta Del Cedacero 3rd Cat. 1 Adolfo Garcia (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 3 2 Victor Hugo Peña (Col) U.S. Postal 2 3 David Muñoz (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 1 Metas volantes Mazarron Kms..56.8 1 David Muñoz (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 3 2 Victor Hugo Peña (Col) U.S. Postal 2 3 Adolfo Garcia (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 1 Monteagudo Kms..156.5 1 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Lotto-Adecco 3 2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 2 3 Juan Miguel Cuenca (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 1 Teams 1 Phonak Hearing Systems 13.01.21 2 Lampre-Daikin 3 Milaneza-MSS 4 Colchon Relax-Fuenlabrada 5 Palmans-Collstrop 6 Team Nuernberger 7 Lotto-Adecco 8 Ibanesto.Com 9 Rabobank 10 Mercatone Uno 11 U.S. Postal 12 Euskaltel-Euskadi 13 Jazztel-Costa Almeriaa 14 Saeco-Longoni Sport 15 Once-Eroski 16 Team Telekom 17 Kelme-Costa Blanca General classification after stage 1 1 Jan Svorada (Cze) Lampre-Daikin 4.20.17 2 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-MSS 0.04 3 Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Phonak 0.06 4 Adolfo Garcia (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 5 Victor Hugo Peña (Col) U.S. Postal 6 David Muñoz (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 7 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Lotto-Adecco 0.07 8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 0.08 9 Sergio Villamil (Spa) Colchon Relax 0.10 10 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 11 Luciano Pagliarini (Bra) Lampre-Daikin 12 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank 13 Luca De Angeli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 14 Hendrik Van Dijck (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 15 Stefan Kupfernagel (Ger) Phonak 16 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 17 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 18 Antonio Cruz (USA) U.S. Postal 19 Martin Garrido (Arg) Colchon Relax 20 Sven Nijs (Bel) Rabobank 21 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Once-Eroski 22 Bjorn Leukemans (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 23 Werner Riebenbauer (Aut) Team Nuernberger 24 David Kopp (Ger) Team Telekom 25 Fabiano Fontanelli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 26 Sasa Sviben (Slo) Team Nuernberger 27 Victoriano Fernandez (Spa) Milaneza-MSS 28 Claus Michael Moller (Den) Milaneza-MSS 29 Arkadiusz Wojtas (Pol) Team Nuernberger 30 Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 31 Pablo Lastras (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 32 Max Becker (Lux) Palmans-Collstrop 33 Jorge Ferrio (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 34 Christian Werner (Ger) Team Nuernberger 35 Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Phonak 36 Serguei Smetanine (Rus) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 37 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 38 Matthew White (Aus) U.S. Postal 39 Benjamin Noval (Spa) Colchon Relax 40 Ief Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 41 Francisco Cabello (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 42 Holger Sievers (Ger) Team Nuernberger 43 Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Lampre-Daikin 44 Jose Luis Martinez (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 45 Jorg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco-Longoni Sport 46 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) U.S. Postal 47 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 48 Ivan Ramiro Parra (Col) Once-Eroski 49 Juan Carlos Guillamon (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 50 Iban Herrero (Spa) Colchon Relax 51 Ren Andrle (Cze) Once-Eroski 52 Joan Horrach (Spa) Milaneza-MSS 53 Harald Morscher (Aut) Team Nuernberger 54 Christian Pfannberger (Aut) Team Nuernberger 55 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 56 Abraham Olano (Spa) Once-Eroski 57 Gian Mario Ortenzi (Ita) Mercatone Uno 58 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 59 Javi Pascual Llorente (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 60 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 61 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Team Telekom 62 Jose Cayetano Julia (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 63 Mikel Artetxe (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 64 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 65 Jens Heppner (Ger) Team Telekom 66 Matthias Kessler (Ger) Team Telekom 67 Jan Hruska (Cze) Once-Eroski 68 Jose A. Pecharroman (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 69 Unai Osa (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 70 German Nieto (Spa) Colchon Relax 71 Christophe Detilloux (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 72 Thorwald Veneberg (Ned) Rabobank 73 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 74 Jose Antonio Garrido (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 75 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Once-Eroski 76 Chann Mcrae (USA) U.S. Postal 77 Kurt Van Lancker (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 78 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Ibanesto.Com 79 Daniel Schnider (Swi) Phonak 80 Jorge Capitan (Spa) Colchon Relax 81 Tom Stremersch (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 82 Thierry De Groote (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 83 Jose Manuel Maestre (Spa) Colchon Relax 84 Carlos Torrent (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 85 Gonçalo Amorim (Por) Milaneza-MSS 86 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 87 Dirk Reichl (Ger) Team Telekom 88 Iker Camaño (Spa) Phonak 89 Gorka Beloki (Spa) Once-Eroski 90 Inigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 91 Peter Wuyts (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 92 Torsten Hiekmann (Ger) Team Telekom 93 Marco Pantani (Ita) Mercatone Uno 94 Joao Silva (Por) Milaneza-MSS 95 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Rabobank 96 Roberto Heras (Spa) U.S. Postal 97 Alber Lopez De Munain (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 98 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 99 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 100 Juan J De Los Angeles (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 101 Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Saeco-Longoni Sport 102 Carlos Carneiro (Por) Milaneza-MSS 103 Pablo Fernandez (Spa) Colchon Relax 104 Torsten Nitsche (Ger) Saeco-Longoni Sport 105 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 106 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 107 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank 108 Pablo Soler (Spa) Mercatone Uno 109 Daniel Clavero (Spa) Mercatone Uno 110 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) U.S. Postal 111 Marco Della Vedova (Ita) Mercatone Uno 112 Alessandr Spezialetti (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 113 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Milaneza-MSS 114 Kevin Livingston (USA) Team Telekom 115 David Herrero (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 116 Thomas Liese (Ger) Team Nuernberger 117 Addy Engels (Ned) Rabobank 118 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 119 Igor Pugaci MDA Saeco-Longoni Sport 120 Reto Bergmann (Swi) Phonak 121 Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) Lampre-Daikin 122 Giuseppe Guerini (Ita) Team Telekom 123 Jose Vicente Garcia (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 124 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak 125 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Lampre-Daikin 126 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Phonak 0.44 127 Maximilian Sciandri (GBr) Lampre-Daikin 0.54 128 David Zabriskie (USA) U.S. Postal 0.56 129 Salvatore Commesso (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 0.59 130 Ermanno Brignoli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 1.29 131 Isaac Galvez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 3.33 132 Tony Bracke (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 5.14 133 Juan Miguel Cuenca (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 7.20 134 Ricardo Valdez (Spa) Jazztel-Costa Almeria 7.28 Points classification after stage 1 1 Jan Svorada (Cze) Lampre-Daikin 25 2 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-MSS 20 3 Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Phonak 16 4 Sergio Villamil (Spa) Colchon Relax 14 5 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 12 6 Luciano Pagliarini (Bra) Lampre-Daikin 10 7 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank 9 8 Luca De Angeli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 8 9 Hendrik Van Dijck (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 7 10 Stefan Kupfernagel (Ger) Phonak 6 11 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 5 12 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4 13 Antonio Cruz (USA) U.S. Postal 3 14 Martin Garrido (Arg) Colchon Relax 2 15 Sven Nijs (Bel) Rabobank 1 Mountains classification after stage 1 1 Adolfo Garcia (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 3 2 Victor Hugo Peña (Col) U.S. Postal 2 3 David Muñoz (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 1 Metas volantes classification after stage 1 1 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Lotto-Adecco 3 2 David Muñoz (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 3 3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 2 4 Victor Hugo Peña (Col) U.S. Postal 2 5 Juan Miguel Cuenca (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 1 6 Adolfo Garcia (Spa) Ibanesto.Com 1 Teams classification after stage 1 1 Phonak Hearing Systems 13.01.21 2 Lampre-Daikin 3 Milaneza-MSS 4 Colchon Relax-Fuenlabrada 5 Palmans-Collstrop 6 Team Nuernberger 7 Lotto-Adecco 8 Ibanesto.Com 9 Rabobank 10 Mercatone Uno 11 U.S. Postal 12 Euskaltel-Euskadi 13 Jazztel-Costa Almeriaa 14 Saeco-Longoni Sport 15 Once-Eroski 16 Team Telekom 17 Kelme-Costa Blanca