Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Work unrewarded in 12th stage

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Parent Category: Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Category: News 2010

Published on Thursday, 09 September 2010 18:48

Written by Luca Salvatelli

The FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI team was unable to close the day with a good result after big teamwork in the twelfth stage of the 65th Vuelta a España, ridden over 173 kilometers between Andorra la Vella and Lleida with the only difficulty of the Alt de Boixols (Cat. 2). The Gold Generation, initially absent into the 8-man break that earned a three-minute advantage halfway the course, put all their roster on front for the last seventy kilometers of racing to bring the escape down with only 25k left.

Sprinters Manuel Cardoso and Enrique Mata would miss the race to get into the top places as the last turn into Lleida took them out of contention. The duo finished in 13th and 18th respectively, as Briton Mark Cavendish (HTC) grabbed a solid win over Tyler Farrar (GRM) and the Manxman's own leadout rider Matthew Goss. In other negative news, the squad led by Matxin and Angoitia lost today their rider David Vitoria, the Swiss running out of energy due to persisting pain in his knee from August after his operation in the sprint. Friday will bring another flat course in the 13th stage, with youngster Mata reaching homeland on the 196km trek from Rincón de Soto to Burgos.

QUOTES:

Manuel Cardoso: “It's a shame because the team really work impressively hard for me today to get into the sprint. I got a good position into the bunch, but in the last turn Goss and Cavendish entered really fast and made a Lampre rider to brake too much and open a gap we couldn't bridge anymore and also took me almost still to regain speed from too close. But there's no excuse: they did better than us, full stop. It makes me angry, because this was one of those days when I had really good feelings in this Vuelta and I would have liked to make the team happy. The good sensations today and the fact I'm going well through these long days of competition give me moral to try it in the few sprints we'll find in the way to Madrid. We'll try it for sure tomor row if there's another sprint finish."

CLASSIFICATIONS:

Vuelta a España (GT), Stage 12, Andorra la Vella-Lleida, 172.5km.

1. Mark Cavendish (Team HTC-Columbia) 4.00.30

2. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) s.t.

3. Matthew Goss (Team HTC-Columbia) s.t.

(...)

13. Manuel Cardoso (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) s.t.

18. Enrique Mata (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) s.t.

101. David Gutiérrez G. (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 0.17

112. Alberto Benítez (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) s.t.

127. Johnnie Walker (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 0.27

157. Giampaolo Cheula (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 0.30

172. Martin Pedersen (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 1.57

DNF. David Vitoria (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI)

General Classification.

1. Igor Antón (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 51.37.45

2. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) 0.45

3. Xavi Tondo (Cervélo TestTeam) 1.04

(...)

71. Alberto Benítez (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 54.06

106. Giampaolo Cheula (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 1.21.14

116. Martin Pedersen (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 1.35.31

126. David Gutiérrez G. (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 1.42.06

133. Manuel Cardoso (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 1.46.48

138. Enrique Mata (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 1.52.37

161. Johnnie Walker (FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI) 2.06.59