Recently on Cyclingnews.com |
 Giro finale Photo ©: Bettini |
62nd Vuelta Ciclista a la Comunidad Valenciana - 2.3
Spain, February 24-29, 2004
Main Page Results Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 4 - February 27: Sagunt - Alto Del Campello (Vallada), 158.2 km
Valverde in control
Jorge Garcia wins toughest stage
Alejandro Valverde (Comunidad Valenciana Kelme) maintained his grip on the yellow leader's jersey in the Vuelta Comunidad Valenciana after placing fourth in the toughest stage today. Stage 4 finished atop the Cat. 1 climb of Alto Del Campello, and it was Cafes Baque rider Jorge Garcia who claimed the victory ahead of Mikel Astarloza (Ag2r). Valverde arrived 5'24 later just behind Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval), but as neither of the two leading riders were a threat on GC, he had no concerns about the time gap.
The 158 km stage's main obstacle was the final climb. The Alto Del Campello rises 330 m in 5 km, its steepness compensating for its shortness. A headwind all day meant that the stage finished half an hour behind schedule, and the winner didn't finish until almost 6:00pm. While the peloton was content to sit behind Valverde's team for most of the day, Jorge Garcia and Mikel Astarloza opted to go on the offensive and attacked at the 15 km mark.
The pair were allowed a big lead, as neither of them was much closer than 20 minutes Valverde on GC. Halfway through the stage Garcia and Astarloza had actually erased this deficit, but the chase then picked up behind them in the peloton. The pair arrived at the foot of the climb with enough time in hand to ensure they would stay away, and Garcia eventually proved stronger to beat Astarloza by 13 seconds.
The action started to heat up behind when Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval) launched an attack, forcing Valverde to respond, as the Italian was only 26 seconds behind on GC. Cadel Evans (T-Mobile) also showed himself at the front with Piepoli, but Valverde was able to account for all his rivals and finished a strong fourth place behind Piepoli.
Tomorrow's fifth and final stage will start and finish in Valencia, and will be run over 165 km. The Cat. 2 Alto de Río Juanes is the biggest difficulty.
Results
1 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Cafes Baque 4.38.55 2 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 0.13 3 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 5.23 4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 5.24 5 Alex Zuelle (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros 7 Cadel Evans (Aus) T-Mobile 8 Antonio Colom (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 5.28 9 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 10 Denis Menchov (Rus) Illes Balears-Banesto 11 Koldo Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros 5.34 12 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Cofidis 5.40 13 Bingen Fernandez (Spa) Cofidis 14 David Blanco (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 15 David Bernabeu (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 5.42 16 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 5.48 17 Adolfo Garcia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 5.49 18 Pedro Cardoso (Por) Milaneza-Maia 6.03 19 David Cañada (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 20 José Alberto Martinez (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 21 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon 22 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 6.13 23 Jorge Ferrio (Spa) Costa Almeria-Paternina 6.15 24 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 25 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Phonak Hearing Systems 26 Santiago Botero (Col) T-Mobile 27 Iker Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 28 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 29 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 6.30 30 Stephane Goubert (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 31 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) Quick.Step-Davitamon 32 Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Milaneza-Maia 33 David Lopez (Spa) Cafes Baque 34 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 6.35 35 Torsten Hiekmann (Ger) T-Mobile 6.42 36 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Quick.Step-Davitamon 37 Javier Ramirez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 38 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 39 Bruno Castanheira (Por) Milaneza-Maia 6.47 40 Javier Cherro (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 6.55 41 Jose Miguel Elias (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 6.57 42 Txema Del Olmo (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 7.00 43 Lizuarte Martins (Por) Milaneza-Maia 7.03 44 Luis Perez (Spa) Cofidis 45 Rafael Casero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 7.07 46 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 47 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 48 José E. Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 49 David Millar (GBr) Cofidis 50 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 51 Pedro Arreitunandia (Spa) Cafes Baque 7.16 52 Jose Cayetano Julia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 7.26 53 Gonzalo Bayarri (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 54 Christian Werner (Ger) T-Mobile 55 Anton Luengo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 56 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 7.43 57 Daniel Atienza (Spa) Cofidis 7.53 58 Christia Van De Velde (USA) Liberty Seguros 7.55 59 Carlos R. Golbano (Spa) Costa Almeria-Paternina 7.56 60 Josep Jufre (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 8.14 61 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank 8.33 62 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick.Step-Davitamon 63 Francisco Gutierrez (Spa) Cafes Baque 64 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 65 Francisco José Lara (Spa) Costa Almeria-Paternina 8.52 66 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Saunier Duval-Prodir 8.56 67 Aitor Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 68 David Herrero (Spa) Costa Almeria-Paternina 69 Andreas Kloden (Ger) T-Mobile 70 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 71 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 72 Gustavo Domingos (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 73 José Luis Rebollo (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 74 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile 9.16 75 Alberto Hierro (Spa) Cafes Baque 76 Unai Yus (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 9.19 77 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Phonak Hearing Systems 78 David Fernandez (Spa) Costa Almeria-Paternina 9.26 79 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 9.29 80 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Liberty Seguros 81 Juan Gomis (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 82 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile 83 Haritz Arruti (Spa) Cafes Baque 84 José Luis Arrieta (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 10.10 85 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 86 Gilberto Martins (Por) Milaneza-Maia 10.39 87 Matthew White (Aus) Cofidis 88 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 89 Ivan Mayoz (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 90 Isaac Galvez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 91 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 92 Gustavo Cesar (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 93 Antonio Tauler (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 94 Mark Scanlon (Irl) Ag2r-Prevoyance 95 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 96 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 97 José Antonio Garrido (Spa) Quick.Step-Davitamon 98 Daniel Becke (Ger) Illes Balears-Banesto 99 Robert Bartko (Ger) Rabobank 10.49 100 Roberto Laiseka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 11.20 101 Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 11.35 102 Christophe Oriol (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 11.56 103 José Antonio Lopez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 12.23 104 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 13.08 Points 1 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Cafes Baque 25 pts 2 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 20 3 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 16 4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 14 5 Alex Zuelle (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 12 6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros 10 7 Cadel Evans (Aus) T-Mobile 9 8 Antonio Colom (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 8 9 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 7 10 Denis Menchov (Rus) Illes Balears-Banesto 6 11 Koldo Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros 5 12 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Cofidis 4 13 Bingen Fernandez (Spa) Cofidis 3 14 David Blanco (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 2 15 David Bernabeu (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 1 Mountains Alto Del Campello - Cat. 1, km 157,20 1 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 16 pts 2 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Cafes Baque 12 3 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 10 4 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros 8 5 Cadel Evans (Aus) T-Mobile 6 6 Alex Zuelle (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 4 7 Antonio Colom (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 3 8 Denis Menchov (Rus) Illes Balears-Banesto 2 9 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 1 Sprints Montserrat, km 79,20 1 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Cafes Baque 3 pts 2 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 2 3 José Antonio Lopez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 1 Alzira, km 111,30 1 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 3 pts 2 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Cafes Baque 2 3 Isaac Galvez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 1 Teams 1 Cafes Baque 14.10.31 2 Ag2R Prevoyance 0.40 3 Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 2.46 4 Saunier Duval-Prodir 3.28 5 Liberty Seguros 3.54 6 Milaneza-Maia 4.29 7 T-Mobile 4.35 8 Cofidis 4.37 9 Phonak Hearing Systems 5.00 10 Quick.Step-Davitamon 5.29 11 Relax-Bodysol 5.44 12 Euskaltel-Euskadi 6.10 13 Rabobank 6.16 14 Illes Balears-Banesto 7.20 15 Brioches La Boulangere 8.00 16 Costa Almeria-Paternina 9.17 General classification after stage 4 1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 16.29.48 2 Antonio Colom (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 0.05 3 David Blanco (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 0.18 4 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.21 5 Alex Zuelle (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.26 6 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 0.28 7 Denis Menchov (Rus) Illes Balears-Banesto 0.30 8 Koldo Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros 0.32 9 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Cofidis 0.34 10 Bingen Fernandez (Spa) Cofidis 0.38 11 David Bernabeu (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 0.40 12 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.44 13 José Alberto Martinez (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 0.53 14 Pedro Cardoso (Por) Milaneza-Maia 1.05 15 Jorge Ferrio (Spa) Costa Almeria-Paternina 1.13 16 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros 1.14 17 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 1.17 18 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 1.33 19 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 1.57 20 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon 1.58 21 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2.36 22 Javier Ramirez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 2.37 23 Iker Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2.38 24 Santiago Botero (Col) T-Mobile 25 Adolfo Garcia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 2.40 26 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 2.49 27 Rafael Casero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 2.56 28 Cadel Evans (Aus) T-Mobile 3.05 29 Torsten Hiekmann (Ger) T-Mobile 30 Bruno Castanheira (Por) Milaneza-Maia 3.10 31 Josep Jufre (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 3.16 32 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 3.22 33 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 3.23 34 Txema Del Olmo (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 35 Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Milaneza-Maia 3.46 36 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Saunier Duval-Prodir 3.58 37 Gonzalo Bayarri (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 4.42 38 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Liberty Seguros 5.44 39 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 5.49 40 Francisco Gutierrez (Spa) Cafes Baque 41 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 42 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank 5.54 43 Jose Cayetano Julia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 6.02 44 Christian Werner (Ger) T-Mobile 6.08 45 Javier Cherro (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 6.23 46 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 6.30 47 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile 6.45 48 David Fernandez (Spa) Costa Almeria-Paternina 6.52 49 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 6.54 50 Matthew White (Aus) Cofidis 7.02 51 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick.Step-Davitamon 7.15 52 Gustavo Domingos (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 7.38 53 Aitor Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 54 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Quick.Step-Davitamon 7.44 55 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 7.49 56 Alberto Hierro (Spa) Cafes Baque 7.54 57 Jose Miguel Elias (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 8.30 58 Mark Scanlon (Irl) Ag2r-Prevoyance 8.42 59 Unai Yus (Spa) Brioches La Boulangere 9.41 60 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Phonak Hearing Systems 9.53 61 José E. Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.34 62 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 14.21 63 Lizuarte Martins (Por) Milaneza-Maia 15.08 64 Christia Van De Velde (USA) Liberty Seguros 15.09 65 Robert Bartko (Ger) Rabobank 15.46 66 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 16.10 67 Ivan Mayoz (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 16.56 68 José Antonio Garrido (Spa) Quick.Step-Davitamon 17.26 69 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 17.31 70 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Cafes Baque 18.30 71 Luis Perez (Spa) Cofidis 19.34 72 Gilberto Martins (Por) Milaneza-Maia 20.24 73 Andreas Kloden (Ger) T-Mobile 21.10 74 Daniel Atienza (Spa) Cofidis 21.26 75 Anton Luengo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 21.37 76 David Cañada (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 22.32 77 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 22.35 78 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) Quick.Step-Davitamon 22.59 79 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 24.21 80 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Phonak Hearing Systems 24.44 81 Juan Gomis (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 25.45 82 Stephane Goubert (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 26.39 83 José Luis Rebollo (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 27.39 84 David Lopez (Spa) Cafes Baque 28.49 85 Isaac Galvez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 29.03 86 David Herrero (Spa) Costa Almeria-Paternina 29.05 87 Pedro Arreitunandia (Spa) Cafes Baque 88 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 35.44 89 José Luis Arrieta (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 36.40 90 David Millar (GBr) Cofidis 42.37 91 Gustavo Cesar (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 43.42 92 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 43.46 93 Carlos R. Golbano (Spa) Costa Almeria-Paternina 44.52 94 Christophe Oriol (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 45.46 95 Francisco José Lara (Spa) Costa Almeria-Paternina 45.48 96 José Antonio Lopez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 47.50 97 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile 52.34 98 Haritz Arruti (Spa) Cafes Baque 52.47 99 Antonio Tauler (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 53.57 100 Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 54.53 101 Daniel Becke (Ger) Illes Balears-Banesto 55.13 102 Roberto Laiseka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 56.04 103 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 56.26 104 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 59.57 Points classification 1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 73 pts 2 Antonio Colom (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 50 3 David Blanco (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 47 4 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Cafes Baque 30 5 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 28 6 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 25 7 Angel Edo (Spa) Milaneza-Maia 24 8 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 22 9 Isaac Galvez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 21 10 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 20 11 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 17 12 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 16 13 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Cofidis 16 14 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros 15 15 José Alberto Martinez (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 14 16 Bingen Fernandez (Spa) Cofidis 13 17 Alex Zuelle (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 12 18 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 12 19 Jorge Ferrio (Spa) Costa Almeria-Paternina 10 20 Jose Cayetano Julia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 10 21 Adolfo Garcia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 9 22 Rafael Casero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 9 23 Cadel Evans (Aus) T-Mobile 9 24 Alberto Hierro (Spa) Cafes Baque 9 25 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank 8 Mountains classification 1 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 32 pts 2 Adolfo Garcia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 30 3 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 16 4 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 16 5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros 15 6 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 13 7 Jose Cayetano Julia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 12 8 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Cafes Baque 12 9 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 10 10 David Lopez (Spa) Cafes Baque 10 11 Antonio Colom (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 8 Combination classification 1 Antonio Colom (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 15 pts 2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 16 3 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 20 4 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 24 5 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 25 6 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 28 7 David Blanco (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 30 8 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Cafes Baque 31 9 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros 34 10 Alex Zuelle (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 39 11 Adolfo Garcia (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 40 Teams classification 1 Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 49.30.37 2 Saunier Duval-Prodir 1.03 3 Liberty Seguros 3.15 4 Milaneza-Maia 3.21 5 Cofidis 3.25 6 T-Mobile 3.35 7 Rabobank 3.43 8 Quick.Step-Davitamon 3.55 9 Relax-Bodysol 4.28 10 Cafes Baque 5.43 11 Phonak Hearing Systems 7.03 12 Euskaltel-Euskadi 7.20 13 Brioches La Boulangere 10.55 14 Costa Almeria-Paternina 11.20 15 Illes Balears-Banesto 23.49 16 Ag2R Prevoyance 27.48
