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Euskal Bizikleta - 2.HC
Spain, June 1-5, 2005
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage
Stage 5 - June 5: Abadiño - Arrate (Eibar) , 154.8km
Jimenez safely home
By Gabriella Ekström
Like in a standard fairy tale, the number of climbs Eladio Jimenez (Comunidad Valenciana) had to face before he had brought the leader's jersey to safety was seven. The fifth stage between Abadino and Arrate, close to Eibar, could have meant a huge difference to the 29 year old race leader, but didn't, and he was safely escorted over the line, two minutes and three seconds after winner Massimiliano Gentili (Naturino).
How it unfolded
The pace was high from the start, just like the previous stages, and the galloping peloton covered 46 kilometres during the first hour. Euskaltel's Joseba Albizu was a man with a mission, and that was to take over the mountains jersey. That seemed to be a difficult task, with Eladio Jimenez leading that competition with 37 points, compared to Albizu's meager 4 points. The mountainous stage did contain 45 points in all, and that gave Albizu a small chance to take over the jersey, but then he had to be the fastest over most of the climbs.
Albizu started out with third category Areitio, over which a 16-man group was formed. The group built up a two minute lead heading towards the second climb of the day, third category Trabakua, where Albizu was yet again the fastest. Over first category Ixua with 70 kilometres to go, Albizu jumped head to take the ten points offered, and by now only nine of the sixteen riders in the group remained. Rene Andrle, Carlos Barredo and Daniel Navarro (Liberty Seguros), Joseba Albizu (Euskaltel), Felix Cardenas and Ryan Cox (Team Barloworld), Mario de Sarraga and Massimiliano Gentili (Naturino) and Gustavo Dominguez (Orbea) worked well together, and the peloton started to lose more time.
With 55 kilometres to go, Comunidad Valenciana got serious in their effort to limit the breakaway, in which Carlos Barredo was the biggest threat to Jimenez, 12th on GC at 8.04. Albizu powered away to take the three points at the second passage of Trabakua, and now had 23 points. Towards the second summit passage of Ixua, Albizu wasn't satisfied with just the points, but attacked, and crossed the mountain prize alone. He was caught on the descent by Massimiliano Gentili who looked like a weaker climber than Albizu coming up over second category San Migel, but Albizu hit the wall hard after he had secured the mountains jersey by winning his sixth KOM sprint of the day, and had to let Gentili go away during the nasty slopes of San Migel.
Back in Eibar, where the race once started, Euskaltel kept helping Saunier Duval, having done that even when Albizu were still at the front. Saunier Duval rode for Jeker and Iñigo Cuesta, thinking about the stage, and a possible climb in the GC. Jimenez hadn't been in any trouble so far, but runner up Adrian Palomares wasn't laughing his way over the climbs. Thanks to his team, his losses were minimal coming into the final climb of Usartza.
Iñigo Cuesta made the first attack in the low slopes of Usartza, together with Igor Astarloa (Barloworld). The Euskaltel team seemed to have problems with their communication, and rode all over the road, just not with each other. Meanwhile, Cuesta dropped Astarloa, and continued a lone pursuit of Gentili who now looked anything but weak in the climb.
Aketza Peña (Euskaltel) finally got some help from David Herrero, while Aitor Gonzalez fought on his own slightly ahead of them on the road. Meanwhile, Barloworld's surprise Arreitunandia had followed almost unnoticed, and suddenly took off with Fabian Jeker and Aitor Hernandez (LPR). Gentili was already over the top, and celebrated the victory in Arrate. Iñigo Cuesta held onto second on the stage, but looked less happy with himself than Gentili.
Hernandez outsprinted Arreitunandia and Jeker to take third, while Aitor Gonzalez (Euskaltel) finished sixth, slightly ahead of team mate Herrero, followed by Igor Astarloa and Aketza Peña. In total, Jimenez increased his lead over Palomares during the stage, and ended up 1'33 ahead of him at the end. Aketza Peña held on to third, while Aitor Gonzalez had to see himself passed by Arreitunandia in the GC.
Results
1 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 4.01.01 2 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.32 3 Aitor Hernandez (Spa) Team L.P.R. 0.44 4 Peio Arreitunandia (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir 5 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Saunier Duval-Prodir 6 Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1.20 7 David Herrero (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1.24 8 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir 9 Aketza Peña (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 10 David Latasa (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 2.03 11 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 12 Javier Pascual Rodriguez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 13 Dailos Diaz (Spa) Orbea 14 Eladio Jimenez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 15 David George (RSA) Team Barloworld-Valsir 16 Adrian Palomares (Spa) Kaiku 2.21 17 Ezequiel Mosquera (Spa) Kaiku 18 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Kaiku 19 Joseba Albizu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 20 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 2.23 21 Santo Anza (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Adria Mobil 3.17 22 Daniele De Paoli (Ita) Team L.P.R. 23 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 3.43 24 Yon Bru (Spa) Kaiku 4.50 25 Gustavo Dominguez (Spa) Orbea 26 Adolfo Garcia Quesada (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 4.54 27 Félix Cardenas (Col) Team Barloworld-Valsir 5.48 28 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 29 Hubert Dupont (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences 6.08 30 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 8.02 31 Mario De Sarraga (Spa) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 32 Aaron Villegas (Spa) Orbea 33 Javier Ruiz De Larrinaga (Spa) Kaiku 34 René Andrle (Cze) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 35 Raul Garcia De Mateo (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 8.19 36 David De La Fuente (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 37 Antton Luengo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 38 Ryan Cox (RSA) Team Barloworld-Valsir 39 Ruben Perez (Spa) Orbea 9.12 40 Jesus Del Nero (Spa) Orbea 12.58 41 Jorge Azanza (Spa) Kaiku 13.53 42 Ruben Oarbeascoa (Spa) Kaiku 43 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 44 Ludovic Martin (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences 45 Christophe Laurent (Fra) Agritubel 46 Mickaël Buffaz (Fra) Agritubel 47 Arkaitz Duran (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 48 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Spa) Orbea 49 Xabat Ochotorena (Spa) Orbea 50 Luis Perez (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 51 Stefano Cavallari (Ita) Team Barloworld-Valsir 52 Iban Mayoz (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 16.29 53 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 16.33 54 Jose Almagro (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada DNF David Etxebarria (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team DNF Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team DNF Juan Jose Cobo (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir DNF Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir DNF Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir DNF José Adrian Bonilla (CRc) Comunidad Valenciana DNF David Muñoz (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana DNF Carlos Zarate (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana DNF Julio Lopez (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada DNF Gustavo Cesar (Spa) Kaiku DNF Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) Team Barloworld-Valsir DNF David Plaza (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir DNF Gilles Canouet (Fra) Agritubel DNF Cedric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel DNF Eric Berthou (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences DNF Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences DNF Nicolas Reynaud (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences DNF Elio Aggiano (Ita) Team L.P.R. DNF Giuseppe Muraglia (Ita) Team L.P.R. DNF Daniele Masolino (Ita) Team L.P.R. DNF Luca Nardello (Ita) Team L.P.R. DNF Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Team L.P.R. DNF Alexandr Arekeev (Rus) Acqua & Sapone-Adria Mobil DNF Alessandro Donati (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Adria Mobil DNF Jure Golcer (Slo) Acqua & Sapone-Adria Mobil DNF Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Adria Mobil DNF Mariano Piccoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Adria Mobil DNF Alessandro Bertuola (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare DNF Alessio Galletti (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare DNF Cristian Gasperoni (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare DNF Filippo Simeoni (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare DNS Christophe Rinero (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences Points 1 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 25 pts 2 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 20 3 Aitor Hernandez (Spa) Team L.P.R. 16 4 Peio Arreitunandia (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir 14 5 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Saunier Duval-Prodir 12 6 Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 10 7 David Herrero (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 9 8 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir 8 9 Aketza Peña (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 7 10 David Latasa (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 6 11 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 5 12 Javier Pascual Rodriguez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 4 13 Dailos Diaz (Spa) Orbea 3 14 Eladio Jimenez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 2 15 David George (RSA) Team Barloworld-Valsir 1 Mountains Areitio - Cat. 3, km 11 3 1 Joseba Albizu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3 pts 2 Giuseppe Muraglia (Ita) Team L.P.R. 1 Trabakua - Cat. 3, km 66 3 1 Joseba Albizu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3 pts 2 René Andrle (Cze) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 1 Ixua - Cat. 1, km 83 1 Joseba Albizu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 10 pts 2 Félix Cardenas (Col) Team Barloworld-Valsir 8 3 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 6 4 Ryan Cox (RSA) Team Barloworld-Valsir 4 5 Gustavo Dominguez (Spa) Orbea 2 Trabakua - Cat. 3, km 103 3 1 Joseba Albizu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3 pts 2 Ryan Cox (RSA) Team Barloworld-Valsir 1 Ixua - Cat. 1, km 120 1 Joseba Albizu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 10 pts 2 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 8 3 Gustavo Dominguez (Spa) Orbea 6 4 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 4 5 Félix Cardenas (Col) Team Barloworld-Valsir 2 San Miguel - Cat. 2, km 134 2 1 Joseba Albizu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 6 pts 2 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 4 3 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 2 Usartza - Cat. 1, km 153 1 1 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 10 pts 2 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 8 3 Peio Arreitunandia (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir 6 4 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Saunier Duval-Prodir 4 5 Aitor Hernandez (Spa) Team L.P.R. 2 Metas volantes Markina, km 57,6 1 Mario De Sarraga (Spa) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 3 pts 2 Ryan Cox (RSA) Team Barloworld-Valsir 2 3 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 1 Eibar (Urkizu), km 144,2 1 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 3 pts 2 Joseba Albizu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2 3 Mario De Sarraga (Spa) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 1 Teams 1 Euskaltel-Euskadi 12.07.11 2 Team Barloworld-Valsir 0.03 3 Comunidad Valenciana 2.01 4 Kaiku 2.55 5 Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 4.01 6 Saunier Duval-Prodir 5.27 7 Orbea 10.47 8 Relax Fuenlabrada 31.57 Final General classification 1 Eladio Jimenez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 18.33.48 2 Adrian Palomares (Spa) Kaiku 1.33 3 Aketza Peña (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3.15 4 Peio Arreitunandia (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir 4.30 5 Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5.04 6 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Saunier Duval-Prodir 5.53 7 David George (RSA) Team Barloworld-Valsir 6.12 8 David Latasa (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 7.22 9 Aitor Hernandez (Spa) Team L.P.R. 7.30 10 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 8.18 11 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 8.22 12 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Kaiku 9.18 13 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 9.44 14 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 10.05 15 Dailos Diaz (Spa) Orbea 10.38 16 Yon Bru (Spa) Kaiku 14.05 17 Daniele De Paoli (Ita) Team L.P.R. 14.44 18 Joseba Albizu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 15.11 19 David Herrero (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 15.35 20 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir 16.08 21 Gustavo Dominguez (Spa) Orbea 16.12 22 Javier Ruiz De Larrinaga (Spa) Kaiku 16.27 23 Ryan Cox (RSA) Team Barloworld-Valsir 20.05 24 Ezequiel Mosquera (Spa) Kaiku 21.37 25 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 25.12 26 Ruben Oarbeascoa (Spa) Kaiku 26.09 27 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 31.31 28 Javier Pascual Rodriguez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 32.03 29 Mario De Sarraga (Spa) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 33.27 30 Adolfo Garcia Quesada (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 34.13 31 Raul Garcia De Mateo (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 34.35 32 Félix Cardenas (Col) Team Barloworld-Valsir 34.36 33 Stefano Cavallari (Ita) Team Barloworld-Valsir 36.28 34 Jorge Azanza (Spa) Kaiku 38.37 35 Santo Anza (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Adria Mobil 40.11 36 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 41.34 37 Ruben Perez (Spa) Orbea 41.54 38 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 46.38 39 Luis Perez (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 48.02 40 Antton Luengo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 49.14 41 Hubert Dupont (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences 49.44 42 David De La Fuente (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 49.53 43 Ludovic Martin (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences 54.02 44 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 54.44 45 Aaron Villegas (Spa) Orbea 55.26 46 René Andrle (Cze) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 57.00 47 Jose Almagro (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 57.38 48 Christophe Laurent (Fra) Agritubel 57.39 49 Jesus Del Nero (Spa) Orbea 1.07.18 50 Mickaël Buffaz (Fra) Agritubel 1.08.59 51 Xabat Ochotorena (Spa) Orbea 1.09.19 52 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Spa) Orbea 1.15.36 53 Iban Mayoz (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 1.16.21 54 Arkaitz Duran (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 1.16.46 Points classification 1 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 72 pts 2 Peio Arreitunandia (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir 53 3 David Herrero (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 48 4 Aitor Hernandez (Spa) Team L.P.R. 47 5 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 41 6 Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 40 7 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Saunier Duval-Prodir 39 8 Eladio Jimenez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 33 9 Aketza Peña (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 32 10 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir 32 11 Yon Bru (Spa) Kaiku 27 12 Adrian Palomares (Spa) Kaiku 24 13 Stefano Cavallari (Ita) Team Barloworld-Valsir 22 14 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 21 15 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 20 16 David Latasa (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 17 17 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 16 18 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 15 19 David George (RSA) Team Barloworld-Valsir 12 20 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 10 21 Jose Almagro (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 10 22 David De La Fuente (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 8 23 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Spa) Orbea 8 24 Joseba Albizu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 7 25 René Andrle (Cze) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 7 26 Dionisio Galparsoro (Spa) Kaiku 4 27 Javier Pascual Rodriguez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 4 28 Jorge Garcia (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 4 29 Dailos Diaz (Spa) Orbea 3 30 Mario De Sarraga (Spa) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 2 Mountains classification 1 Joseba Albizu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 39 pts 2 Eladio Jimenez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 37 3 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 28 4 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 17 5 Aketza Peña (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 15 6 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Saunier Duval-Prodir 14 7 Peio Arreitunandia (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir 12 8 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 10 9 Félix Cardenas (Col) Team Barloworld-Valsir 10 10 Gustavo Dominguez (Spa) Orbea 8 11 Ryan Cox (RSA) Team Barloworld-Valsir 8 12 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 6 13 Stefano Cavallari (Ita) Team Barloworld-Valsir 6 14 David Herrero (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5 15 Adrian Palomares (Spa) Kaiku 4 16 Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4 17 Ruben Oarbeascoa (Spa) Kaiku 4 18 David De La Fuente (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 3 19 Aitor Hernandez (Spa) Team L.P.R. 3 20 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir 1 21 René Andrle (Cze) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 1 22 Jose Almagro (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 1 Metas volantes classification 1 Luis Perez (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 10 pts 2 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 4 3 Mario De Sarraga (Spa) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 4 4 Joseba Albizu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4 5 Jose Almagro (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 4 6 Ezequiel Mosquera (Spa) Kaiku 3 7 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir 3 8 Eladio Jimenez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 3 9 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3 10 Ryan Cox (RSA) Team Barloworld-Valsir 3 11 David Herrero (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3 12 Félix Cardenas (Col) Team Barloworld-Valsir 2 13 Hubert Dupont (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences 2 14 Aitor Hernandez (Spa) Team L.P.R. 1 15 Stefano Cavallari (Ita) Team Barloworld-Valsir 1 Teams classification 1 Team Barloworld-Valsir 55.51.09 2 Comunidad Valenciana 6.35 3 Euskaltel-Euskadi 8.02 4 Kaiku 9.10 5 Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 15.01 6 Orbea 43.12 7 Saunier Duval-Prodir 44.24 8 Relax Fuenlabrada 1.52.00
