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19th Vuelta a Castilla y Leon - 2.3
Spain, April 28-May 2, 2004
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Stage 3 - April 30: Carrion de los Condes - Mansilla de las Mulas, 140.5 km
Valverde keeps his cool
By Martin Hardie
What seemed on paper to be one of those straightforward flattish stages ending in a bunch sprint managed to come apart at the seams over the last 10 kilometres finishing with Alejandro Valverde (Comunidad Valenciana) taking another victory in his one man battle to salvage the name of his team. Valverde came around Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros) who was forced to commence his sprint relatively early as a result of the lead group being thinned out to only 17 over the last two kilometres. Valverde didn't give Davis a chance to recover to take a clean win, whilst Miguel Martin Perdiguero (Saunier Duval) rolled in for third.
The events over the last kilometres caused the race lead to change, but to be kept within the Illes Baleares squad as David Navas crossed the line fourteen seconds behind Valverde and four in front of his teammate and previous race leader Ivan Gutierrez. Tucked in the Valverde group and improving his position in relation to the Illes pair was Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Liberty).
At the stage start in the morning the temperature was a mere 12 degrees and the wind that has dogged the race to date had not gone away and maybe even increased its force. An early attack by Jose Alberto Martinez (Relax), Jesus Tendero (Spanish Selection) and Ricardo Serrano (Cafes Baque) was hunted down during the latter part of the race and the trio were finally relieved of their work into the headwinds with about 12 kilometres left to the finish.
At this point the peloton had a cross/head wind and was swarming and contracting across the road. This and the positioning before a crucial turn soon to come gave the appearance of some real nervousness in the bunch. Euskaltel tried to put themselves at the front just before the course did a complete u-turn and headed back on some narrowing farm roads towards the finish, but through the corner Saunier and then Liberty took control. Liberty seemed put their collective feet down, and what was moments before a swarming mass fighting a headwind was now strung right out in single file and splitting apart.
Riders fought to regain the front group and the twists in the course caused wind shifts with nowhere to really go, as the road was too narrow for echelons of any consequence to form. Three main groups appeared, the second quickly fell apart with the stronger going forward to the front and the others melting into the third group. With the next turn at Reliegos, the wind shift caused the front group to split again as Liberty continued to try and drive at the front. Tino Zaballa (Saunier Duval) tried an attack and managed to stay away for a kilometre or so, never making more than 4 or 5 seconds, he was grinding into the wind, head way down, seemingly looking at his rear wheel wondering why it was all so hard.
As Zaballa was caught with less than 3 kms to go, Kelme started to try and force the pace, and as they did the right hand side of the peloton seemed to implode then fall to the left, one rider going down a small embankment separating the road from the mythical Camino de Santiago and others just hitting the bitumen. Most were up quickly but it took a while for LA Pecol's Pedro Lopes to get under steam again, with part of his rear exposed by torn nicks.
The fall had caused another split and here the eventual finishing group of 17 made a gap and blustered to the finish. In the group were Perdiguero, Gonzalez de Galdeano, Valverde and Davis. Liberty's Koldo Gil was in a second group, as it seemed were Karpets and Navas. Further behind was the yellow jersey of Gutierrez. As the race swung into the finishing straight Davis was left to go it alone with Valverde sitting behind - with the wind it was almost a slow motion sprint and Davis had been left out to start it far too early to hold off the unstoppable Valverde.
In the final Navas took the overall lead four seconds ahead of Gutierrez both benefiting from the buffer created by yesterday's victory in the team time trial.
One finisher to note is Euskaltel's Jose Silloniz. The young rider from Euba has a had a string top 5 finishes this season when races come down to sprint , either bunches or small groups like this one.
Tomorrow is where a different kind of action starts with the Cat. 1 Alto de Foncebadón at 80.5 kms and the mountain finish at Alto de Morredero. Sunday's final stage is a bit of a roller coaster with 2 crossings each of the Cat. 1 Alto de Las Minas and the Cat. 3 Alto de Fabero along with thee Cat. 3 Alto de Ocero. After today's excitement Illes Balleares will have to work hard to keep the race under control.
Results
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 3.55.01 2 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 3 Miguel A Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 4 Francisco José Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 5 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 6 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 7 Jorge Torre (Por) L.A. Pecol 8 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 9 Hector Guerra (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 10 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Spanish National Team 11 Jon Odriozola (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 12 Alberto Hierro (Spa) Cafes Baque 13 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 14 Jan Hruska (Cze) Liberty Seguros 15 Ion Del Rio (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 16 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Liberty Seguros 17 Igor Gonzalez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 18 Unai Yus (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 0.12 19 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 20 Pedro Andrade (Por) L.A. Pecol 21 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 22 Unai Elorriaga (Spa) Cafes Baque 23 David Navas (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 24 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 25 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears-Banesto 26 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 0.16 27 Carlos Torrent (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 28 Nikita Eskov (Rus) Lokomotiv 29 David Fernandez (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 0.30 30 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 31 Koldo Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros 32 Javier Benitez (Spa) Spanish National Team 33 Hernani Broco (Por) L.A. Pecol 34 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Lokomotiv 35 Efrain Gutierrez (Spa) Cafes Baque 36 Pedro Cardoso (Por) Milaneza-Maia 37 Renato Silva (Por) Milaneza-Maia 38 Francisco Palacio (Spa) Cafes Baque 39 Manuel Lloret (Spa) Spanish National Team 40 Bruno Castanheira (Por) Milaneza-Maia 41 Jose Cayetano Julia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 42 Gorka Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 43 Nacor Burgos (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 44 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 45 David Latasa (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 46 Dermot Nally (Irl) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 47 Aitor Perez (Spa) Cafes Baque 48 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 49 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 50 Joseba Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 51 José Vicente Garcia (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 52 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 0.46 53 Moises Duenas (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 0.30 54 Yon Bru (Spa) L.A. Pecol 1.29 55 David Arroyo (Spa) L.A. Pecol 56 Gilberto Martins (Por) Milaneza-Maia 57 Paulo Barroso (Por) Milaneza-Maia 58 Javier Rodriguez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 1.35 59 Carlos Garcia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 60 Alexander Serov (Rus) Lokomotiv 1.43 61 Serguei Klimov (Rus) Lokomotiv 62 Maxim Averin (Rus) Lokomotiv 63 Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) Lokomotiv 1.47 64 Lizuarte Martins (Por) Milaneza-Maia 65 Anton Mindlin (Rus) Lokomotiv 66 Bruno Pires (Por) Milaneza-Maia 67 Juan Llaneras (Spa) Spanish National Team 68 Isaac Galvez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 69 Joaquim Lopez (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 70 Daniel Casado (Spa) Spanish National Team 71 Jokin Ormaetxea (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 72 Tim Johnson (USA) Saunier Duval-Prodir 73 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Spanish National Team 74 Javier Perez (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 75 Sergio Perez (Spa) Cafes Baque 76 Haritz Arruti (Spa) Cafes Baque 77 Mikel Elgezabal (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 78 Daniel Becke (Ger) Illes Balears-Banesto 79 Sergio Paulinho (Por) L.A. Pecol 80 Luis Pinheiro (Por) L.A. Pecol 81 Gustavo Domingos (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 82 Javier Ramirez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 83 Gorka Verdugo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 84 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Liberty Seguros 85 Francis Villalgordo (Spa) Spanish National Team 86 José Alberto Martinez (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 87 Jesus Tendero (Spa) Spanish National Team 88 Juan Jose Cobo (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 89 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 90 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 91 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 92 Angel Gomez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 2.13 93 Alberto Loddo (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 2.18 94 Pedro Lopes (Por) L.A. Pecol 2.27 95 Nico Mattan (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 3.55 96 Joseba Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 6.01 97 Antonio Tauler (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 98 Ivan Mayoz (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 99 José Luis Arrieta (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 100 Ricardo Serrano (Spa) Cafes Baque 6.11 Points 1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 25 pts 2 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 20 3 Miguel A Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 16 4 Francisco José Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 14 5 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 12 6 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 10 7 Jorge Torre (Por) L.A. Pecol 9 8 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 8 9 Hector Guerra (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 7 10 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Spanish National Team 6 11 Jon Odriozola (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 5 12 Alberto Hierro (Spa) Cafes Baque 4 13 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 3 14 Jan Hruska (Cze) Liberty Seguros 2 15 Ion Del Rio (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 1 Teams 1 Liberty Seguros 11.45.03 2 Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.12 3 Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 4 Relax-Bodysol 0.30 5 Illes Balears-Banesto 0.40 6 Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.42 7 L.A. Pecol 8 Cafes Baque 9 Brioches La Boulangere 10 Costa de Almeria-Paternina 0.46 11 Milaneza-Maia 1.00 12 Spanish National Team 13 Lokomotiv 2.29 General classification after stage 3 1 David Navas (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 8.22.40 2 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 0.04 3 Igor Gonzalez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 0.17 4 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears-Banesto 0.35 5 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 0.46 6 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Liberty Seguros 0.47 7 Jan Hruska (Cze) Liberty Seguros 0.52 8 Koldo Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros 1.17 9 José Vicente Garcia (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 1.25 10 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 2.00 11 Nikita Eskov (Rus) Lokomotiv 2.02 12 Pedro Andrade (Por) L.A. Pecol 2.03 13 Jon Odriozola (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 2.06 14 Jorge Torre (Por) L.A. Pecol 2.07 15 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2.15 16 Daniel Becke (Ger) Illes Balears-Banesto 17 Hector Guerra (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 2.22 18 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 2.26 19 Pedro Cardoso (Por) Milaneza-Maia 2.37 20 Aitor Perez (Spa) Cafes Baque 2.42 21 Miguel A Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 2.43 22 Francisco José Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 2.49 23 Manuel Lloret (Spa) Spanish National Team 24 Unai Elorriaga (Spa) Cafes Baque 2.59 25 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3.08 26 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 27 Francisco Palacio (Spa) Cafes Baque 3.17 28 Gorka Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 3.18 29 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 3.23 30 Unai Yus (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 3.35 31 David Arroyo (Spa) L.A. Pecol 3.36 32 Sergio Paulinho (Por) L.A. Pecol 3.38 33 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Spanish National Team 4.05 34 Bruno Castanheira (Por) Milaneza-Maia 35 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Spanish National Team 4.06 36 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 4.08 37 Isaac Galvez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 4.10 38 Hernani Broco (Por) L.A. Pecol 4.23 39 Renato Silva (Por) Milaneza-Maia 40 Alberto Hierro (Spa) Cafes Baque 4.33 41 Pedro Lopes (Por) L.A. Pecol 4.34 42 Nacor Burgos (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 4.38 43 Moises Duenas (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 44 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 4.43 45 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4.54 46 Yon Bru (Spa) L.A. Pecol 5.22 47 Bruno Pires (Por) Milaneza-Maia 5.40 48 Gustavo Domingos (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 5.55 49 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Liberty Seguros 6.33 50 Ion Del Rio (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 6.51 51 Alberto Loddo (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 6.53 52 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Lokomotiv 6.56 53 Joaquim Lopez (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 54 Jose Cayetano Julia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 7.16 55 David Latasa (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 7.50 56 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 7.51 57 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 7.52 58 Sergio Perez (Spa) Cafes Baque 8.02 59 Nico Mattan (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 8.03 60 Serguei Klimov (Rus) Lokomotiv 8.09 61 Antonio Tauler (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 8.10 62 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 8.12 63 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 8.15 64 Javier Perez (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 8.38 65 Gilberto Martins (Por) Milaneza-Maia 8.50 66 Paulo Barroso (Por) Milaneza-Maia 67 Javier Rodriguez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 8.55 68 Ricardo Serrano (Spa) Cafes Baque 8.58 69 Efrain Gutierrez (Spa) Cafes Baque 9.09 70 Javier Ramirez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 9.16 71 Juan Llaneras (Spa) Spanish National Team 9.20 72 Francis Villalgordo (Spa) Spanish National Team 73 Jesus Tendero (Spa) Spanish National Team 74 José Alberto Martinez (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 9.23 75 Gorka Verdugo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 9.39 76 Tim Johnson (USA) Saunier Duval-Prodir 9.50 77 Ivan Mayoz (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 10.09 78 Joseba Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 10.21 79 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 10.24 80 Haritz Arruti (Spa) Cafes Baque 10.26 81 Joseba Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 11.10 82 Angel Gomez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 11.20 83 Javier Benitez (Spa) Spanish National Team 11.27 84 Lizuarte Martins (Por) Milaneza-Maia 12.33 85 José Luis Arrieta (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 13.35 86 Daniel Casado (Spa) Spanish National Team 13.43 87 Juan Jose Cobo (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 14.22 88 Carlos Torrent (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 19.23 89 Carlos Garcia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 19.25 90 Dermot Nally (Irl) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 19.37 91 Luis Pinheiro (Por) L.A. Pecol 19.38 92 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 19.50 93 Jokin Ormaetxea (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 20.54 94 Mikel Elgezabal (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 95 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 21.51 96 Maxim Averin (Rus) Lokomotiv 22.50 97 Alexander Serov (Rus) Lokomotiv 24.53 98 Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) Lokomotiv 24.57 99 David Fernandez (Spa) Costa de Almeria-Paternina 26.08 100 Anton Mindlin (Rus) Lokomotiv 29.37 Points classification 1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 29 pts 2 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 26 3 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 25 4 Miguel A Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 21 5 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 20 6 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 16 7 Igor Gonzalez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 14 8 Francisco José Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 14 9 Aitor Perez (Spa) Cafes Baque 12 10 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 12 11 Gorka Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 10 12 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 10 13 David Navas (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 9 14 Jorge Torre (Por) L.A. Pecol 9 15 Sergio Paulinho (Por) L.A. Pecol 8 16 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 8 17 Pedro Andrade (Por) L.A. Pecol 7 18 Hector Guerra (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 7 19 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Spanish National Team 6 20 Jon Odriozola (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 5 21 Alberto Hierro (Spa) Cafes Baque 4 22 Koldo Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros 3 23 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 3 24 Jan Hruska (Cze) Liberty Seguros 2 25 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 2 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 24 pts 2 Pedro Andrade (Por) L.A. Pecol 32 3 Gorka Beloki (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 41 4 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 5 5 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 7 6 Igor Gonzalez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 10 7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 11 8 David Navas (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 14 9 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 21 10 Miguel A Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 25 11 Jorge Torre (Por) L.A. Pecol 28 Castellano-Leones classification 1 David Navas (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 2 Francisco Palacio (Spa) Cafes Baque 3 Nacor Burgos (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 4 Moises Duenas (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 5 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir Spanish rider classification 1 David Navas (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 2 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 3 Igor Gonzalez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 4 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Liberty Seguros 5 Koldo Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros Teams classification 1 Illes Balears-Banesto 25.08.39 2 Liberty Seguros 1.11 3 L.A. Pecol 5.52 4 Saunier Duval-Prodir 7.19 5 Euskaltel-Euskadi 7.22 6 Cafes Baque 7.49 7 Milaneza-Maia 8.10 8 Spanish National Team 9.04 9 Brioches La Boulangere 9.37 10 Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 10.25 11 Relax-Bodysol 10.29 12 Lokomotiv 16.28 13 Costa de Almeria-Paternina 18.58
