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63rd Vuelta Ciclista a la Comunidad Valenciana - 2.1
Spain, February 22-26, 2005
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Stage 4 - February 25: Alzira - Vallada, 156 km
Flecha continues Fassa domination
Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo) was rewarded for his hard work in the service of Alessandro Petacchi with a win in the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Valenciana. Flecha had to earn it though - he attacked the lead group of 20 with 3 km to go in the 155 km stage to hold off the group by 9 seconds. Once again, Petacchi won the sprint for second, thereby retaining his overall lead in the tour. Aitor Perez (Spiuk) finished third.
"It was a tough stage due to the bad weather," said Flecha. "After the climb at halfway, there were only 20 of us and Petacchi was with me. With about 15 km to, our breakaway companions started to attack and I went with all of them. With a few kilometres to go, we had four in front. I knew that Alessandro was coming back and therefore after I saved myself a bit, on the instruction of DS Cenghialta, I attacked. There were about 3 kilometres to go and the rest were looking at Petacchi so I finished with 10 seconds gap. I feel good and I hope to maintain this condition until the northern classics, which are my big goal of the season."
Petacchi echoed Flecha's words, adding that, "It was an extraordinary moment for the whole team. Flecha was super - he went with practically all of the attacks. At one point the group was broken in two: Flecha was in front with three others and did not collaborate. Then I attacked on a climb and came back to them. Flecha profited from the others marking me and attacked with three kilometres to go, and I, after having watched the situation, won the sprint for second place. Tomorrow, considering our leadership in the general classification, we will watch the race and if there is the possibility, we will put the cherry on this fantastic cake."
The stage was due to finish on the Alto Del Campello, but organisers were forced to take this part out due to snow and adverse weather conditions on the mountain. Similarly, the second intermediate sprint and the Puerto De Barx were also eliminated. The stage, which started in Alzira, finished in Vallada. Temperatures were cold at the start with the riders enduring 1 degree celsius conditions, but that didn't prevent the race from being ridden at a high pace.
The attacks started from the gun, with second on GC Constantino Zaballa (Saunier Duval) among the first attackers. He was joined by Iban Mayoz (Relax), Carlos Barredo, Alberto Contador, Sergio Paulinho, Luis Sánchez and Javier Ramirez (Liberty), Luis Pérez and Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis). This was a danger move for Fassa Bortolo, which put its men into action to limit the gap to between 1'00 and 1'20. The peloton had split as a result, with the large second group gradually losing time to the Fassa-led chase.
At the sprint at km 44, Petacchi's bunch was only 20 seconds behind the nine leaders, with group 2 now at 1'17. The leading breakaway collapsed and came back to the Petacchi group after 52 km, which was completed in just over an hour. But the second group was still languishing a minute behind, led by Rabobank, Euskaltel and Kaiku versus Fassa Bortolo and Comunidad Valenciana in front.
The attacks continued in front with Gomis (Comunidad Valenciana) and Paulinho (Liberty) trying, then Zarate (Comunidad Valenciana) and Tauler (Illes Balears), but none were successful. On the day's Cat. 2 climb of the Alto De La Gallinera (km 78), Zaballa took the points ahead of Daniel Navarro (Liberty) and Aitor Perez (Spiuk), the front group now numbering 20 riders including Petacchi, Zaballa and three each from Liberty and Comunidad Valenciana. Behind them at 1 minute was a first peloton numbering 30 riders, while the second peloton with the rest of the field in it was at 1'50.
Gradually the gaps grew between the three groups and it became clear that Petacchi's bunch was not going to be caught. On the fog covered Alto De Agres (km 106), Xabier Zandio (Illes Balears) passed over the top first after attacking on the climb. He had 10 seconds to Rafael Casero (Saunier), Flecha (Fassa) and the rest of the group, but was caught over the top.
From the peloton, Toni Tauler and Jose Enrique Gutierrez made a futile attempt to bridge the gap to Petacchi's group when it was 5'00, and managed to put four minutes into the first peloton but still finished the stage eight minutes down on the leaders.
The leading group began to split with around 10 km to go, with second on GC Zaballa falling back, along with Contador and Navarro. That left 13 in front, with Petacchi and Flecha holding their own. At the three kilometre to go point, Flecha took the bull by the horns and attacked, with none of the front group having an answer to his power. He held onto win by 9 seconds while Petacchi completed a remarkable stage by finishing second, a sign that he is in top condition at this time of the season. Aitor Perez (Spiuk) was third and moved into second overall, at 27 seconds.
Results
1 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 3.39.14 2 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.09 3 Aitor Perez (Spa) Spiuk 4 David Etxebarria (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 5 Antonio Colom (Spa) Illes Balears 6 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 7 David Muñoz (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 8 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 9 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Illes Balears 10 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile Team 11 José Ruiz (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 12 Javier Cherro (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 13 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 14 David Bernabeu (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 0.31 15 Javier Perez (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 3.05 16 Jorge Ferrio (Spa) Spiuk 17 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 3.07 18 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 4.33 19 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 20 José Enriqu Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 8.23 21 Rafael Casero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 8.26 22 Antonio Tauler (Spa) Illes Balears 23 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 12.22 24 Ion Del Rio (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 25 Iker Leonet (Spa) Illes Balears 26 Josep Jufre (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 27 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 28 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 29 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 30 Daniel Becke (Ger) Illes Balears 31 Raul Garcia (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 32 Mauro Gerosa (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 33 David Blanco (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 34 Marco Velo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 35 Carlos Zarate (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 36 Alberto Ongarato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 37 Gianluca Sironi (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 38 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Credit Agricole 39 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Credit Agricole 40 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Credit Agricole 41 Luis Perez (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 42 Andrej Hauptman (Slo) Fassa Bortolo 43 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 44 Juan Gomis (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 45 Javier Ramirez (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 46 Joan Horrach (Spa) Illes Balears 12.28 47 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team 48 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 49 Luis Perez (Spa) Cofidis 50 Jaume Rovira (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 51 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 52 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 53 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Saunier Duval-Prodir 20.03 54 Andrea Tafi (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 55 Nacor Burgos (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 56 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) T-Mobile Team 57 Fco.José Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 58 Ignacio Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 59 Pedro Romero (Spa) Spiuk 60 Luciano A. Pagliarini (Bra) Liquigas-Bianchi 61 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Cofidis 62 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Cofidis 63 Joseba Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 64 Alberto Benitez (Spa) Spiuk 65 Aketza Peña (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 66 Ivan Mayoz (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 67 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Illes Balears 68 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis 69 Pedro Horrillo (Spa) Rabobank 70 Adrian Palomares (Spa) Kaiku 71 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 72 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 73 Angel L. Casero (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 74 Aitor Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 75 Julian Dean (NZl) Credit Agricole 76 M.A. Perdiguero (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 77 Victor M. Gomes (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 78 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 79 David Fernandez (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 20.11 80 Roberto Laiseka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi Points 1 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 25 pts 2 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 20 3 Aitor Perez (Spa) Spiuk 16 4 David Etxebarria (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 14 5 Antonio Colom (Spa) Illes Balears 12 6 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 10 7 David Muñoz (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 9 8 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 8 9 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Illes Balears 7 10 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile Team 6 11 José Ruiz (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 5 12 Javier Cherro (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 4 13 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 3 14 David Bernabeu (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 2 15 Javier Perez (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 1 Mountains Alto De La Gallinera (Cat. 2) - km 78 1 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 10 pts 2 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 7 3 Aitor Perez (Spa) Spiuk 5 4 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 3 5 Javier Ramirez (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 2 6 Antonio Colom (Spa) Illes Balears 1 Alto De Agres (Cat. 3) - km 103 1 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Illes Balears 6 pts 2 Rafael Casero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 4 3 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 2 4 David Muñoz (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 1 Intermediate Sprints Oliva - km 44 1 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 3 pts 2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 2 3 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 1 General classification after stage four 1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 15.44.44 2 Aitor Perez (Spa) Spiuk 0.27 3 Antonio Colom (Spa) Illes Balears 0.31 4 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 5 Javier Cherro (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 0.32 6 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Illes Balears 0.33 7 David Muñoz (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 0.35 8 David Etxebarria (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 0.36 9 José Ruiz (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 10 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 11 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile Team 12 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 13 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 0.44 14 David Bernabeu (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 0.58 15 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 3.14 16 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 4.53 17 José Enriqu Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 8.49 18 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 9.33 19 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 12.44 20 Ion Del Rio (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 21 Javier Ramirez (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 22 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Credit Agricole 12.49 23 Marco Velo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 24 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 25 Josep Jufre (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 26 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Credit Agricole 27 Luis Perez (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 28 Carlos Zarate (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 29 Juan Gomis (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 30 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 31 Jaume Rovira (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 12.55 32 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 13.06 33 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 13.36 34 Javier Perez (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 14.47 35 Joan Horrach (Spa) Illes Balears 17.28 36 David Blanco (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 20.03 37 Antonio Tauler (Spa) Illes Balears 20.08 38 M.A. Perdiguero (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 20.20 39 Fco.José Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 20.25 40 Rafael Casero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 20.28 41 Alberto Benitez (Spa) Spiuk 20.30 42 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 43 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 21.28 44 Jorge Ferrio (Spa) Spiuk 22.39 45 Mauro Gerosa (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 23.59 46 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Credit Agricole 24.01 47 Gianluca Sironi (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 24.04 48 Raul Garcia (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 49 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 50 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 24.10 51 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team 24.39 52 Nacor Burgos (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 25.03 53 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) T-Mobile Team 54 Angel L. Casero (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 55 Luis Perez (Spa) Cofidis 25.23 56 Andrej Hauptman (Slo) Fassa Bortolo 26.05 57 Alberto Ongarato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 58 Daniel Becke (Ger) Illes Balears 28.49 59 Luciano A. Pagliarini (Bra) Liquigas-Bianchi 31.36 60 Andrea Tafi (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 31.44 61 Victor M. Gomes (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 31.45 62 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 63 Ignacio Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 64 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Cofidis 65 Pedro Horrillo (Spa) Rabobank 66 Aketza Peña (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 67 Joseba Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 68 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis 69 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Cofidis 70 David Fernandez (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 31.53 71 Iker Leonet (Spa) Illes Balears 31.56 72 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Saunier Duval-Prodir 33.28 73 Pedro Romero (Spa) Spiuk 36.37 74 Ivan Mayoz (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 37.10 75 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Illes Balears 39.37 76 Julian Dean (NZl) Credit Agricole 77 Aitor Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 78 Adrian Palomares (Spa) Kaiku 79 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 80 Roberto Laiseka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 39.45 Points classification 1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 86 pts 2 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 45 3 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 34 4 Luciano A. Pagliarini (Bra) Liquigas-Bianchi 30 5 David Blanco (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 25 6 Antonio Colom (Spa) Illes Balears 25 7 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Credit Agricole 24 8 Aitor Perez (Spa) Spiuk 23 9 David Muñoz (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 23 10 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 22 11 Fco.José Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 22 12 M.A. Perdiguero (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 17 13 Marco Velo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 16 14 David Etxebarria (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 14 15 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 13 16 Ion Del Rio (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 13 17 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Illes Balears 10 18 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 10 19 Mauro Gerosa (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 10 20 Javier Cherro (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 8 21 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile Team 6 22 José Ruiz (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 5 23 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5 24 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Credit Agricole 3 25 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 3 Mountains classification 1 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 36 pts 2 Javier Ramirez (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 19 3 Juan Gomis (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 15 4 Ivan Mayoz (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 12 5 Aitor Perez (Spa) Spiuk 11 6 David Bernabeu (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 10 7 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Illes Balears 7 8 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 7 9 Andrea Tafi (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 7 10 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 6 11 Adrian Palomares (Spa) Kaiku 6 Combined classification 1 Aitor Perez (Spa) Spiuk 15 pts 2 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 18 3 Antonio Colom (Spa) Illes Balears 25 4 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Illes Balears 30 5 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 30 6 David Muñoz (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 33 7 David Bernabeu (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 47 8 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 50 9 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth 54 10 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Credit Agricole 82 11 Andrea Tafi (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 102 Teams classification 1 Comunitat Valenciana 47.12.32 2 Liberty Seguros-Wurth 12.01 3 Fassa Bortolo 15.38 4 Illes Balears 16.13 5 Andalucia-Paul Versan 18.32 6 Spiuk 26.13 7 T-Mobile Team 32.28 8 Saunier Duval-Prodir 34.27 9 Liquigas-Bianchi 38.54 10 Relax-Fuenlabrada 40.02 11 Credit Agricole 40.07 12 Phonak Hearing Systems 43.44 13 Euskaltel-Euskadi 46.50 14 Rabobank 55.19 15 Cofidis 58.11
