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19th Vuelta a Castilla y Leon - 2.3
Spain, April 28-May 2, 2004
Stage 1 - April 28: Belorado - Castrojeriz, 156 km
Gutierrez wins windy stage
By Martin Hardie
José Ivan Gutierrez (Illes Balears-Banesto) has taken the first stage in the 19th Vuelta a Castilla y Leon after winning a seven man sprint ahead of Constantino Zaballa (Saunier Duval) and Dionisio Galparsoro (Euskaltel-Euskadi). The group finished 19 seconds clear of eighth placed Sergio Paulinho and Pedro Andrade , with another seven man group led by Allan Davis (Liberty) coming in at 29 seconds for 10th.
How it unfolded
The first few days of spring that had finally reached Spain were still present in the central province of Castilla y Leon for today's stage and the cold change coming from the north was only represented by a patch of cloud and a strong wind. And it was this wind that played a definite role in splitting the peloton and causing it to fan out into a number of groups along the route.
As the race entered the business end of the day a group of seven riders had a 1'15 gap over a seemingly reduced peloton. The seven, Gorka Beloki (La Boulangère), Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Liberty Seguros), Jose Ivan Gutierrez, David Navas (Illes Baleares), Aitor Perez (Cafes Baqué), Tino Zaballa (Saunier Duval) and Dionoso Gaplasaro (Euskaltel) had included in their number Sergio Paulinho and Pedro Andrade from LA Pecol, but mishaps and a short climb in the last 20 kilometres saw them fall off the pace.
In between the leading seven and the peloton was where the action was taking place in the meantime. With one eye on a stage win for Allan Davis and another on tomorrow's team time trial, another group driven by five Liberty Seguros riders fought its way through the wind. Accompanying them were two dangerous passengers, Martin Perdiguero (Saunier) and Alejandro Valverde (Comunidad Valenciana). This group hung out in front of the main bunch for the final stages of the race, while slowly eating into the leading group's advantage. Along with the passengers and Allan Davis, Liberty's representation was Angel Vicioso, Koldo Gil, Javier Ramirez and Dariusz Baranowski.
As the road came to the end of a longish straight and open stretch and turned right with 12 km to go, the chasers had reduced the lead to 54 seconds and they continued their task as the finish loomed closer. The peloton was another 20 seconds behind them at the turn.
From there the race became a little more sheltered, with hills bordering and trees demarcating the road and fields green from the rains of the past months. With 10 km to go, both Igor Gonzalez and Gorka Beloki were sitting on and not working while the others worked to maintain their difference from the Liberty led chase group, which seemed to be putting its money on Davis outdoing Perdiguero and Valverde in the finish. With 8km to go, the three potential sprint opponents were all sitting on as Davis' four teammates had closed down the gap nearly a further twenty seconds - the difference here was 35 seconds.
Things had started to get twitchy up front - usually a sure, or at least possible sign of the death of a break - and thus it was no surprise that as they passed through the ruins of the Convent of San Anton that one of the Baleares boys attacked, but to no avail. The front group was still together and at the 2 km to go marker, with Galparsoro and Perez doing a lot of the work to stay away and with the Baleares boys, now repentant and joining in the task, their advantage was not getting any smaller.
The race, now out of the strong winds, entered town, Igor and Gorka both had moved forward for the first time in a long time, while Perez and Galparsoro had eased themselves back. Coming into the sprint Zaballa, Igor and Gorka were leading the group, and as the sprint started in earnest Jose Ivan Gutierrez gave it a good hard push and took a line not that far from the right hand barrier were Zaballa had positioned himself. Gutierrez came close to Zaballa's line and the Saunier rider raised an arm in desperation claiming he had been chopped into the barrier, with this he lost all chance of passing the Baleares boy who took the victory by more than a bike length from Zaballa and Galparsoro.
Igor rolled in fourth and Perez fifth, while 29 seconds later Davis took the sprint for 10th (as the two La Pecol's, Sergio Paulinho and Pedro Andrade had never been caught) from Valverde and Perdiguero. The reduced 22 member "peloton" was at 35 seconds. The rest of the race had suffered in the wind and ambled in in groups spread out over the next twenty minutes.
In the post race interviews Zaballa thought that with a "cleaner finish" he could have won but the replay didn't show any exaggerated movement from Gutierrez, it seemed that he was just blocked but not chopped by the line of his competitor. In the end the Saunier rider had to be content with second on the stage along with a wardrobe of jerseys for the combination, mountains and points competitions.
The big news of the day for many was that Joseba Beloki finished the stage. After the race he said he was feeling a bit better today and that he still thought he had time to get his form in order for some of the major appointments later in the year, including the Tour.
Tomorrow's stage is a 32 km, fairly level team time trial, the wind is surely going to be a factor again, and with their performance today Liberty might go out and put on a show.
Results
1 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 3.46.42 2 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 3 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4 Igor Gonzalez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 5 Aitor Perez (Spa) Cafes Baque 6 Gorka Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 7 David Navas (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 8 Sergio Paulinho (Por) L.A. Pecol 0.19 9 Pedro Andrade (Por) L.A. Pecol 10 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 0.29 11 Miguel A Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 12 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 13 Koldo Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros 0.30 14 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 15 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Liberty Seguros 16 Javier Ramirez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 0.33 17 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 0.35 18 Unai Elorriaga (Spa) Cafes Baque 19 Unai Yus (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 20 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 21 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 22 Pedro Cardoso (Por) Milaneza-Maia 23 Jon Odriozola (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 24 Manuel Lloret (Spa) Spanish National Team 25 Francisco José Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 26 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 27 Jan Hruska (Cze) Liberty Seguros 28 Pedro Lopes (Por) L.A. Pecol 29 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 30 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears-Banesto 31 Jorge Torre (Por) L.A. Pecol 32 Nikita Eskov (Rus) Lokomotiv 33 Ricardo Serrano (Spa) Cafes Baque 34 Francisco Palacio (Spa) Cafes Baque 35 Hector Guerra (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 36 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Liberty Seguros 37 David Arroyo (Spa) L.A. Pecol 38 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Spanish National Team 39 José Luis Arrieta (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 40 Daniel Becke (Ger) Illes Balears-Banesto 0.40 41 José Vicente Garcia (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 1.07 42 Isaac Galvez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 1.53 43 Bruno Castanheira (Por) Milaneza-Maia 2.03 44 Alberto Loddo (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 2.21 45 Joaquim Lopez (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 46 Renato Silva (Por) Milaneza-Maia 47 Nacor Burgos (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 48 Hernani Broco (Por) L.A. Pecol 49 Moises Duenas (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 50 Bruno Pires (Por) Milaneza-Maia 51 Nico Mattan (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 52 Gustavo Domingos (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 53 Haritz Arruti (Spa) Cafes Baque 54 Alberto Hierro (Spa) Cafes Baque 55 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Spanish National Team 56 Antonio Tauler (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 57 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 58 Joseba Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 59 Angel Gomez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 60 Efrain Gutierrez (Spa) Cafes Baque 61 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 62 Yon Bru (Spa) L.A. Pecol 63 Joseba Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 64 Ivan Mayoz (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 65 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 66 Javier Perez (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 4.03 67 Sergio Perez (Spa) Cafes Baque 68 Ion Del Rio (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 69 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Lokomotiv 5.15 70 Serguei Klimov (Rus) Lokomotiv 71 Jose Cayetano Julia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 72 José Alberto Martinez (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 5.49 73 Gilberto Martins (Por) Milaneza-Maia 74 Javier Rodriguez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 75 David Latasa (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 76 Paulo Barroso (Por) Milaneza-Maia 77 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 78 Tim Johnson (USA) Saunier Duval-Prodir 79 Juan Llaneras (Spa) Spanish National Team 80 Gorka Verdugo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 81 Javier Benitez (Spa) Spanish National Team 82 Jesus Tendero (Spa) Spanish National Team 83 Francis Villalgordo (Spa) Spanish National Team 84 Daniel Casado (Spa) Spanish National Team 85 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 86 Juan Jose Cobo (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 87 Lizuarte Martins (Por) Milaneza-Maia 9.14 88 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 12.23 89 Carlos Torrent (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 16.19 90 Dermot Nally (Irl) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 91 Luis Pinheiro (Por) L.A. Pecol 92 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 93 Jokin Ormaetxea (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 94 Carlos Garcia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 95 David Fernandez (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 96 Mikel Elgezabal (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 97 Anton Mindlin (Rus) Lokomotiv 98 Maxim Averin (Rus) Lokomotiv 99 Alexander Serov (Rus) Lokomotiv 21.59 100 Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) Lokomotiv 101 Anton Luengo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 22.04 Points 1 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 25 pts 2 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 20 3 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 16 4 Igor Gonzalez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 14 5 Aitor Perez (Spa) Cafes Baque 12 6 Gorka Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 10 7 David Navas (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 9 8 Sergio Paulinho (Por) L.A. Pecol 8 9 Pedro Andrade (Por) L.A. Pecol 7 10 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 6 11 Miguel A Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 5 12 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 4 13 Koldo Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros 3 14 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 2 15 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Liberty Seguros 1 Mountains Alto De La Pedraja - Cat. 2, km 72 1 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 6 pts 2 Gorka Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 4 3 Pedro Andrade (Por) L.A. Pecol 2 4 Moises Duenas (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 1 Teams 1 Illes Balears-Banesto 11.20.41 2 Liberty Seguros 0.24 3 Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.29 4 Brioches La Boulangere 0.35 5 Euskaltel-Euskadi 6 Cafes Baque 7 L.A. Pecol 0.38 8 Milaneza-Maia 2.38 9 Spanish National Team 2.56 10 Relax-Bodysol 4.42 11 Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 5.44 12 COSTA ALMERIA-PATERNINA 9.52 13 Lokomotiv 10.30 General classification after stage 1 1 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 3.46.42 2 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 3 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4 Igor Gonzalez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 5 Aitor Perez (Spa) Cafes Baque 6 Gorka Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 7 David Navas (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 8 Sergio Paulinho (Por) L.A. Pecol 0.19 9 Pedro Andrade (Por) L.A. Pecol 10 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 0.29 11 Miguel A Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 12 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 13 Koldo Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros 0.30 14 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 15 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Liberty Seguros 16 Javier Ramirez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 0.33 17 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 0.35 18 Unai Elorriaga (Spa) Cafes Baque 19 Unai Yus (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 20 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 21 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 22 Pedro Cardoso (Por) Milaneza-Maia 23 Jon Odriozola (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 24 Manuel Lloret (Spa) Spanish National Team 25 Francisco José Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 26 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 27 Jan Hruska (Cze) Liberty Seguros 28 Pedro Lopes (Por) L.A. Pecol 29 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 30 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears-Banesto 31 Jorge Torre (Por) L.A. Pecol 32 Nikita Eskov (Rus) Lokomotiv 33 Ricardo Serrano (Spa) Cafes Baque 34 Francisco Palacio (Spa) Cafes Baque 35 Hector Guerra (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 36 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Liberty Seguros 37 David Arroyo (Spa) L.A. Pecol 38 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Spanish National Team 39 José Luis Arrieta (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 40 Daniel Becke (Ger) Illes Balears-Banesto 0.40 41 José Vicente Garcia (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 1.07 42 Isaac Galvez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 1.53 43 Bruno Castanheira (Por) Milaneza-Maia 2.03 44 Alberto Loddo (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 2.21 45 Joaquim Lopez (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 46 Renato Silva (Por) Milaneza-Maia 47 Nacor Burgos (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 48 Hernani Broco (Por) L.A. Pecol 49 Moises Duenas (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 50 Bruno Pires (Por) Milaneza-Maia 51 Nico Mattan (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 52 Gustavo Domingos (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 53 Haritz Arruti (Spa) Cafes Baque 54 Alberto Hierro (Spa) Cafes Baque 55 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Spanish National Team 56 Antonio Tauler (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 57 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 58 Joseba Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 59 Angel Gomez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 60 Efrain Gutierrez (Spa) Cafes Baque 61 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 62 Yon Bru (Spa) L.A. Pecol 63 Joseba Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 64 Ivan Mayoz (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 65 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 66 Javier Perez (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 4.03 67 Sergio Perez (Spa) Cafes Baque 68 Ion Del Rio (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 69 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Lokomotiv 5.15 70 Serguei Klimov (Rus) Lokomotiv 71 Jose Cayetano Julia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 72 José Alberto Martinez (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 5.49 73 Gilberto Martins (Por) Milaneza-Maia 74 Javier Rodriguez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 75 David Latasa (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 76 Paulo Barroso (Por) Milaneza-Maia 77 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 78 Tim Johnson (USA) Saunier Duval-Prodir 79 Juan Llaneras (Spa) Spanish National Team 80 Gorka Verdugo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 81 Javier Benitez (Spa) Spanish National Team 82 Jesus Tendero (Spa) Spanish National Team 83 Francis Villalgordo (Spa) Spanish National Team 84 Daniel Casado (Spa) Spanish National Team 85 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 86 Juan Jose Cobo (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 87 Lizuarte Martins (Por) Milaneza-Maia 9.14 88 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 12.23 89 Carlos Torrent (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 16.19 90 Dermot Nally (Irl) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 91 Luis Pinheiro (Por) L.A. Pecol 92 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 93 Jokin Ormaetxea (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 94 Carlos Garcia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 95 David Fernandez (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 96 Mikel Elgezabal (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 97 Anton Mindlin (Rus) Lokomotiv 98 Maxim Averin (Rus) Lokomotiv 99 Alexander Serov (Rus) Lokomotiv 21.59 100 Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) Lokomotiv 101 Anton Luengo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 22.04 Points classification 1 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 25 pts 2 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 20 3 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 16 4 Igor Gonzalez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 14 5 Aitor Perez (Spa) Cafes Baque 12 6 Gorka Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 10 7 David Navas (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 9 8 Sergio Paulinho (Por) L.A. Pecol 8 9 Pedro Andrade (Por) L.A. Pecol 7 10 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 6 11 Miguel A Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 5 12 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 4 13 Koldo Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros 3 14 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 2 15 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Liberty Seguros 1 Mountains classification 1 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 6 pts 2 Gorka Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 4 3 Pedro Andrade (Por) L.A. Pecol 2 4 Moises Duenas (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 1 Combination classification 1 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 5 pts 2 Gorka Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 14 3 Pedro Andrade (Por) L.A. Pecol 21 4 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 2 5 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 6 6 Igor Gonzalez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 8 7 Aitor Perez (Spa) Cafes Baque 10 8 David Navas (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 14 9 Sergio Paulinho (Por) L.A. Pecol 16 10 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 20 11 Miguel A Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 22 Castellano-Leones classification 1 David Navas (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 2 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 3 Ricardo Serrano (Spa) Cafes Baque 4 Francisco Palacio (Spa) Cafes Baque 5 Nacor Burgos (Spa) Relax-Bodysol Spanish rider classification 1 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 2 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 3 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4 Igor Gonzalez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 5 Aitor Perez (Spa) Cafes Baque Teams classification 1 Illes Balears-Banesto 11.20.41 2 Liberty Seguros 0.24 3 Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.29 4 Brioches La Boulangere 0.35 5 Euskaltel-Euskadi 6 Cafes Baque 7 L.A. Pecol 0.38 8 Milaneza-Maia 2.38 9 Spanish National Team 2.56 10 Relax-Bodysol 4.42 11 Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 5.44 12 Costa de Almeria-Paternina 9.52 13 Lokomotiv 10.30
