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47th Vuelta Ciclista a la Rioja - 2.1
Spain, April 27-29, 2007
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage
Stage 3 - April 29: Logroño-Logroño, 140.8 km
Caisse d'Epargne and Liberty Seguros dominate final stage and overall
By Monika Prell
Spaniard Pablo Urtasun (Liberty Seguros) was victorious in the third and final stage of the Vuelta a la Rioja from Logroño to Logroño. His compatriot Rubén Plaza (Caisse d'Epargne) won the overall classification in front of his Russian teammate Vladimir Karpets and Portuguese racer Candido Barbosa (Liberty Seguros).
The cyclists had to wake up very early, and they'd already started by 9:55 am from the capital of la Rioja, Logroño. The stage was ripe for excitement, with possibilities for overall general classification changes. Tied for first and second were Plaza and Karpets, who were also haunted by a group of strong rivals like Dionisio Galparsoro and Igor Antón (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Matteo Carrara (Unibet.com), David Bernabeu, and Manuel Lloret (Fuerteventura Canarias), all within 53 seconds of the two Caisse d'Epargne riders.
The stage ran among the famous vineyards that produce the grapes for the wine "Riojano," but it had only one main climb, the category one Alto de Peñahincada after 68 kilometers of racing. In good humour thanks to the nice sunny and 17 degree weather, Urtasun, the leader of the mountain classification, wanted to guard his jersey, so he broke away for the third day in a row, after Caisse d'Epargne had ended the break-away intentions of other ridersr who posed a danger to Plaza.
First, Pablo de Pedro (Grupo Nicolas Mateos) and Oscar García (Relax -Gam) tried to bridge to Urtasun, but he reached the summit of the Alto de Peñahincada with about two minutes lead on his two chasers and about four minutes ahead of the peloton and secured his win in the mountains classification.
About 15 kilometers before the finish line, the peloton caught de Pedro and García. Urtasun, meanwhile, had earned a gap of three minutes, and as Rubén Plaza said, "He was not dangerous in the general classification, we let him go." Urtasun crossed the finish line solo more than three minutes before the peloton opened a massive sprint, won by Koldo Fernández de Larrea (Euskaltel - Euskadi) ahead of Candido Barboso (Liberty Seguros) and Javier Cherro (Fuerteventura Canarias)
Urtasun dedicated his victory "to the team that trusts a lot in me, and my family and my girlfriend who are always with me, even in the bad moments." He admitted that "until three kilometers before the finish line, I did not believe I could win." After today, Urtasun looked more like the owner of a flower shop. He went up to the podium three times: as stage winner, as winner of the mountain classification, and as most combative rider of the Vuelta a la Rioja.
The podium consisted almost entirely of riders from for Liberty Seguros and Caisse d'Epargne, with Candido Barbosa (Liberty Seguros) as winner of the points classification, and Rubén Plaza (Caisse d'Epargne) as overall winner. Mathieu Perget (Caisse d'Epargne) was the best neo professional, and his team won also the team classification.
De Pedro was the only representative of another team. The Grupo Nicolas Mateos rider won the classification of the intermediate sprints.
Plaza was happy about his win. "I dedicate this victory to all who suffered with me. The team did a great work, and now I will have to invite Vladimir Karpets to a drink!"
Results
1 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Liberty Seguros 3.08.26 2 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2.59 3 Candido Barbosa (Por) Liberty Seguros 4 Javier Cherro (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 5 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 6 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Unibet.com 7 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Relax-GAM 8 Philippe Schnyder (Swi) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 9 Juan Jose Oroz (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 10 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 11 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 12 Eladio Jimenez (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 13 Huub Duyn (Ned) Team Slipstream 14 Aaron Villegas (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 15 Eloy Teruel (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 16 Nacor Burgos (Spa) Relax-GAM 17 Manuel Lloret (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 18 Jorge Perez (Spa) Relax-GAM 19 Gustavo Cesar (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 20 Manuel Ortega (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 21 Juan C. Carinena (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 22 Alberto Losada (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 23 Michal Golas (Pol) Unibet.com 24 Pablo De Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 25 Manuel Vazquez (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 26 David Bernabeu (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 27 Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 28 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 29 Ivan Melero (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 30 Enrique Salgueiro (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 31 Dailos Manuel Diaz (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 32 Joseba Zumeta (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 33 David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 34 Oscar Garcia (Spa) Relax-GAM 35 Jason Donald (USA) Team Slipstream 36 Antonio Piedra (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 37 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 38 Jose Rafael Martinez (Spa) Relax-GAM 39 Victor Hugo Peña (Col) Unibet.com 40 Marcos A. Serrano (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 41 Jordi Grau (Spa) Liberty Seguros 42 Carlos Nozal (Spa) Liberty Seguros 43 Beñat Intxausti (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 44 Filipe Cardoso (Por) Liberty Seguros 3.07 45 José Antonio Lopez (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 4.53 46 Sergi Escobar (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 7.28 47 David Herrero (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 48 Joaquin Ortega (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 49 Jesus Rosendo (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 50 Xabat Otxotorena (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 51 Fco. Jose Martinez (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 52 Julen Zubero (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 53 Ivan Degasperi (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 54 Andoni Aranaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 55 Alberto Loddo (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 56 Jonathan P. Mc Carty (USA) Team Slipstream 57 Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Unibet.com 10.21 58 Denis Kudashev (Rus) Relax-GAM 59 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 60 Joaquin Sobrino (Spa) Relax-GAM 61 Gil Suray (Bel) Unibet.com 62 Bruno Bertolini (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 63 David Garcia (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 64 Luis Pinheiro (Por) Liberty Seguros 65 Serafin Martinez (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 66 Marco Zanotti (Ita) Unibet.com 67 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 68 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 69 Markus Eichler (Ger) Unibet.com 70 Javier Echarri (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 71 David Belda (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 72 Simon Edgarco (Arg) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 73 Josu Agirre (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 74 Iker Leonet (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 75 Diego Milan (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 76 Tyler Butterfield (Ber) Team Slipstream 77 Luis Perez Romero (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 78 César Quiterio (Por) Liberty Seguros 13.33 79 Fabio Borghesi (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 80 Mattia Turrina (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 81 Steven Cozza (USA) Team Slipstream 82 Sébastien Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 18.19 83 Alexei Markov (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 84 Gonzalo Rabunal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 85 Andoni Lafuente (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 86 Francisco José Lara (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 87 Miguel Ochoa (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos Mountains Alto De Peñahincada (Cat 1) km 68.10 1 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Liberty Seguros 10 pts 2 Pablo De Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 8 3 Oscar Garcia (Spa) Relax-GAM 6 4 Antonio Piedra (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 4 5 Enrique Salgueiro (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 2 6 Joseba Zumeta (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 1 Sprints Ortigosa De Cameros (Km 77.40) 1 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Liberty Seguros 3 pts 2 Pablo De Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 2 3 Oscar Garcia (Spa) Relax-GAM 1 El Rasillo De Cameros (Km 81.50) 1 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Liberty Seguros 3 pts 2 Pablo De Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 2 3 Oscar Garcia (Spa) Relax-GAM 1 Points 1 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Liberty Seguros 25 pts 2 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 20 3 Candido Barbosa (Por) Liberty Seguros 16 4 Javier Cherro (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 14 5 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 12 6 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Unibet.com 10 7 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Relax-GAM 9 8 Philippe Schnyder (Swi) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 8 9 Juan Jose Oroz (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 7 10 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 6 11 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5 12 Eladio Jimenez (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 4 13 Huub Duyn (Ned) Team Slipstream 3 14 Aaron Villegas (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 2 15 Eloy Teruel (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 1 Teams 1 Liberty Seguros 9.31.16 2 Euskaltel-Euskadi 2.59 3 Relax-Gam 4 Fuerteventura-Canarias 5 Orbea-Laukiz F.T. 6 Caisse d'Epargne 7 Karpin Galicia 8 Andalucia-Cayasur 9 Unibet.com 10 Grupo Nicolás Mateos 11 Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 7.28 12 Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni- Selle Italia 11.57 General classification 1 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 11.08.21 2 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 3 Candido Barbosa (Por) Liberty Seguros 0.53 4 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Unibet.com 6 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 7 David Bernabeu (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 8 Eladio Jimenez (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 9 Alberto Losada (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 10 Manuel Lloret (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 11 David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 12 Aaron Villegas (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 13 Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 14 Juan Jose Oroz (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 2.01 15 Manuel Ortega (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 2.31 16 Manuel Vazquez (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 17 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Relax-GAM 18 Eloy Teruel (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 19 Enrique Salgueiro (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 20 Carlos Nozal (Spa) Liberty Seguros 21 Huub Duyn (Ned) Team Slipstream 22 Philippe Schnyder (Swi) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 23 Oscar Garcia (Spa) Relax-GAM 24 Marcos A. Serrano (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 25 Ivan Melero (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 26 Jordi Grau (Spa) Liberty Seguros 27 Pablo De Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 3.07 28 Jose Rafael Martinez (Spa) Relax-GAM 29 Juan C. Carinena (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 4.29 30 Victor Hugo Peña (Col) Unibet.com 4.46 31 Nacor Burgos (Spa) Relax-GAM 5.45 32 Dailos Manuel Diaz (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 33 Jason Donald (USA) Team Slipstream 34 Jorge Perez (Spa) Relax-GAM 5.53 35 Xabat Otxotorena (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 7.00 36 Jesus Rosendo (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 37 Gustavo Cesar (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 7.01 38 Michal Golas (Pol) Unibet.com 39 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 40 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 7.06 41 Filipe Cardoso (Por) Liberty Seguros 7.09 42 Joseba Zumeta (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 7.13 43 Fco. Jose Martinez (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 8.28 44 Beñat Intxausti (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 9.39 45 Diego Milan (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 9.53 46 Luis Perez Romero (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 47 Javier Echarri (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 48 Ivan Degasperi (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 10.14 49 Javier Cherro (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 11.00 50 Sergi Escobar (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 11.30 51 Julen Zubero (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 52 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Liberty Seguros 11.39 53 Josu Agirre (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 11.51 54 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 12.08 55 Mattia Turrina (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 13.05 56 José Antonio Lopez (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 14.11 57 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 14.23 58 Serafin Martinez (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 59 Markus Eichler (Ger) Unibet.com 60 David Herrero (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 15.54 61 Jonathan P. Mc Carty (USA) Team Slipstream 62 Gonzalo Rabunal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 17.51 63 Antonio Piedra (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 17.54 64 Marco Zanotti (Ita) Unibet.com 18.47 65 Simon Edgarco (Arg) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 66 Denis Kudashev (Rus) Relax-GAM 67 Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Unibet.com 68 David Garcia (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 69 Gil Suray (Bel) Unibet.com 70 Luis Pinheiro (Por) Liberty Seguros 71 Tyler Butterfield (Ber) Team Slipstream 72 Bruno Bertolini (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 19.14 73 Steven Cozza (USA) Team Slipstream 20.12 74 Fabio Borghesi (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 21.59 75 Francisco José Lara (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 22.21 76 Alberto Loddo (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 22.23 77 Joaquin Ortega (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 78 Andoni Aranaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 79 César Quiterio (Por) Liberty Seguros 22.24 80 Miguel Ochoa (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 23.22 81 Joaquin Sobrino (Spa) Relax-GAM 25.16 82 Iker Leonet (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 83 David Belda (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 84 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 25.43 85 Alexei Markov (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 33.14 86 Sébastien Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 87 Andoni Lafuente (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 33.32 Mountains classification 1 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Liberty Seguros 27 pts 2 Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 16 3 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 8 4 Pablo De Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 8 5 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 7 6 David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 6 7 Oscar Garcia (Spa) Relax-GAM 6 8 José Antonio Lopez (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 4 9 Antonio Piedra (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 4 10 Juan Jose Oroz (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 3 11 Enrique Salgueiro (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 2 Sprint classification 1 Pablo De Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 10 pts 2 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Liberty Seguros 7 3 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 3 4 José Antonio Lopez (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 3 5 César Quiterio (Por) Liberty Seguros 3 6 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2 7 Juan Jose Oroz (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 2 8 Steven Cozza (USA) Team Slipstream 2 9 Oscar Garcia (Spa) Relax-GAM 2 10 Aaron Villegas (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 1 11 Jesus Rosendo (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 1 Points classification 1 Candido Barbosa (Por) Liberty Seguros 48 pts 2 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 26 3 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 25 4 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Liberty Seguros 25 5 Alberto Loddo (Ita) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 25 6 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Unibet.com 24 7 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 24 8 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 20 9 David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 16 10 Alexei Markov (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 16 11 Javier Cherro (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 14 12 Simon Edgarco (Arg) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 14 13 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 13 14 David Herrero (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 12 15 Manuel Lloret (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 10 16 Juan Jose Oroz (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 10 17 Marco Zanotti (Ita) Unibet.com 10 18 David Bernabeu (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 9 19 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Relax-GAM 9 20 Joaquin Sobrino (Spa) Relax-GAM 9 21 Eladio Jimenez (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 8 22 Manuel Ortega (Spa) Andalucia-Cajasur 8 23 Philippe Schnyder (Swi) Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni 8 24 Alberto Losada (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 7 25 Aaron Villegas (Spa) Orbea-Oreka SDA 7 Neo-pro classification 1 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 2 Beñat Intxausti (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 3 Antonio Piedra (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias Team classification 1 Caisse d'Epargne 33.25.56 2 Euskaltel-Euskadi 1.46 3 Liberty Seguros 2.03 4 Orbea-Laukiz F.T. 4.32 5 Karpin Galicia 5.02 6 Fuerteventura-Canarias 6.38 7 Andalucia-Cayasur 6.40 8 Grupo Nicolás Mateos 9 Relax-Gam 7.16 10 Unibet.com 11.47 11 Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni- Selle Italia 18.52 12 Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 21.30
