Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Luke Roberts Fourth On First Stage of Vuelta a Castilla y Lyon

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Parent Category: Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Category: News Cycling Pro Road & Mtb 2011

Published on Wednesday, 13 April 2011 19:33

Written by Luca Salvatelli

With Alberto Contador on the team for Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, Saxo Bank-SunGard has a strong card on the hand for the overall win and the Spanish rider has won the race in recent years.

The Danish squad took the lead from the get-go and allowed no one to ruin up the hopes for an overall classification win and the field came to to finish line in one pack. Here, Saxo Bank-SunGard Aussie, Luke Roberts sprinted his way to fourth place on today's first and 179 kilometer long stage of the Spanish stage race:

"It was a calm stage at first but as there was a group of seven escapees, we needed to work a bit but we made it without any problems even though I had two punctures. But better to have them on a calm day like today," said Saxo Bank-SunGard's Alberto Contador and added: "I'm sorry to see David (Tanner) out of the race. He looked pretty bruised when I saw him in the bus and I hope he gets well soon."

"We controlled the pace of the pack throughout the day as we want to keep the field in the same time for now before the mountains and we didn't get much help from the other teams until the very finale. But we're happy that the tactics followed through and the fact that Luke (Roberts) came in fourth is just an extra bonus for our part" says Saxo Bank-SunGard's Philippe Mauduit and adds: "Unfortunately, we lost David (Tanner) with 25 to go in a crash. He's been examined right now and we're waiting for the result but we're hoping to see him on the road again soon."

 Francisco José Ventoso (Movistar) won the stage.