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27th Vuelta a Murcia - 2.1
Spain, March 7-11, 2007
Main Page Results Overall standings Next Stage
Stage 1 - March 7: S. Pedro Pinatar - Las T. De Cotilla, 166.1 km
21 year-old Rojas gets the win in crash-fest finale
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Caisse d'Epargne has opened the Vuelta Murcia with a sprint win thanks to their young star José Joaquin Rojas. Rojas prevailed in a dangerous, crash-riddled finale ahead of Danilo Napolitano (Lampre) and CSC's new sprinting phenom, Juan José Haedo. "I am immensely happy," said Rojas, still smiling after the finish. "I dreamed of starting my professional palmares with a stage win in the Vuelta a Murcia, and I just made my dream come true." The win was made even better by the fact that it was in Rojas' home region. "To win in my own region feels very special. It is really an extraordinary sensation."
The stage from San Pedro de Pinatar to Las Torres de Cotillas was characterised by strong cross winds throughout the stage. The first successful breakaway of the 166km stage set off at kilometre 15, when Pablo de Pedro (Grupo Nicolás Mateos) attacked, and was joined by Manuel Vazquez (Andalucia-Cayasur) and Gonzalo Rabunal (Karpin-Galicia).
The trio gained a maximum advantage of 9'40 with Vazquez taking the two mountain bonuses and one intermediate sprint before Unibet.com and Caisse d'Epargne got serious about chasing. With about 40km to go, the breakaway was caught, but strong winds had split the peloton into several groups. According to Karpin-Galicia's Rabunal, the winds were so strong that riders were being blown off the road. "I saw a group of about fifteen cyclists, who we were trying to reach, swept off the highway by a gust of wind. In the end, after the energy spent in the breakaway, and fighting the wind, I just barely finished."
From the front group of 50 or so riders, Rabobank's Max Van Heeswijk attacked with five kilometres to go, and was on his way to what looked like a sure victory only to take a tumble while alone off the front of the bunch in the last 500m.
Just a few seconds behind, the chasing peloton took caution through the same spot, but still several more riders crashed on the same oil-slick pavement. Euskaltel's Inaki Isasi and Aitor Galdos, along with Karpin-Galicia's David Herrero were too injured to continue, while CSC's Carlos Sastre rolled across the line last, more than nine minutes down.
Sastre explained, "During the final part of the stage - we were doing 50 km/hr in the strong cross winds that had blown during the entire stage, when two Euskaltel riders crashed and I was not able to avoid them. Soon after I felt others fall on me." Despite the crash, and a deep wound to his elbow and bruises and road rash on his hips, Sastre hopes to be able to continue. "I hope that with the massage and rest, tomorrow, although I will have pains, I will be able to take the start."
Photography
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Images by Caisse d'Epargne
- Jose Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne) lead the peloton across the line in a bunch sprint.
Results
1 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 4.30.50 2 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 3 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team CSC 4 Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com 5 Giuseppe Palumbro (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 6 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 7 Lars Bak (Den) Team CSC 8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 9 Michal Golas (Pol) Unibet.com 10 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 11 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 12 Jose Alberto Benitez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 13 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 14 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 15 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 16 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Relax-Gam 17 Joaquin Sobrino (Spa) Relax-Gam 18 Manuel Lloret (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 19 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Unibet.com 20 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Astana 21 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Relax-Gam 22 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 23 Andrea Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 24 David Bernabeu (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 25 Manuel Vazquez (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 26 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) Rabobank 27 Carlos Castaño (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 28 Massimo Codol (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 29 Pablo de Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 30 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 31 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 32 Marco Marzano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 33 Dario Andriotto (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 34 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Rabobank 35 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Unibet.com 36 Koldo Gil (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 37 Michael Blaudzun (Den) Team CSC 38 Rodriguez Luis Perez (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 39 Isidro Nozal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 40 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 41 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Rabobank 42 Nicki Sörensen (Den) Team CSC 43 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Unibet.com 3.03 44 Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe) Unibet.com 45 Julian Sanchez (Spa) Relax-Gam 3.05 46 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 47 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 48 Iker Flores (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 49 Evgeniy Sladkov (Kaz) Astana 50 Giuseppe Muraglia (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 51 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 52 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Rabobank 3.10 53 Diego Milan (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 6.19 54 Claudio José Casas (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 55 Gorka Amuriza (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 56 Beñat Intxausti (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 57 Unai Uribarri (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 58 Antonio Olmo (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 59 Jose Ruiz (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 60 Jose Luis Carrasco (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 61 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 62 Ruben Lobato (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 63 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Astana 64 Stefano Cavallari (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 65 José Rujano (Ven) Unibet.com 66 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 67 Sébastien Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 68 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 69 Victor Hugo Peña (Col) Unibet.com 70 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Lampre-Fondital 71 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC 72 Jorge Perez (Spa) Relax-Gam 73 David Abal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 74 José Antonio Baños (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 75 Marcos A. Serrano (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 76 Santiago Perez (Spa) Relax-Gam 77 Manuel Ortega (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 78 Jorge Ferrio (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 79 Luis Fernandez (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 80 Inigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 81 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Astana 82 José Angel Gomez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 83 Joan Horrach (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 84 Inigo Cuesta (Spa) Team CSC 85 Arkaitz Duran (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 86 Morris Possoni (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 87 Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana 88 Rodrigo Garcia (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 89 Oscar Garcia (Spa) Relax-Gam 90 Mario De Sarraga (Spa) Relax-Gam 91 Miguel Ochoa (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 92 José Adrian Bonilla (CRc) Fuerteventura-Canarias 6.52 93 David De la Fuente (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 7.01 94 Jorge Azanza (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 9.16 95 Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 96 Alexey Kolessov (Kaz) Astana 97 Lander Aperribay (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 98 David Muñoz (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 99 Vicente Peiro (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 100 Gonzalo Rabunal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 101 Mauricio A. Ardila (Col) Rabobank 102 Enrique Salgueiro (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 103 Vicente Ballester (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 104 Michael Schär (Swi) Astana 105 Javier Cherro (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 106 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC Mountains Alto Fuente Blanca - Cat 3 (Km 60) 1 Manuel Vazquez (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 3 pts 2 Pablo de Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 2 3 Gonzalo Rabunal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 1 Alto De Peña Zafra - Cat 3 (Km 83.50) 1 Manuel Vazquez (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 3 pts 2 Pablo de Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 2 3 Gonzalo Rabunal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 1 Intermediate sprints Fortuna (Km 16.20) 1 Manuel Vazquez (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 3 pts 2 Gonzalo Rabunal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 2 3 Pablo de Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 1 Alguazas (Km 136.10) 1 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Rabobank 3 pts 2 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Relax-Gam 2 3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 1 Points 1 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 25 pts 2 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 20 3 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team CSC 16 4 Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com 14 5 Giuseppe Palumbro (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 12 6 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 10 7 Lars Bak (Den) Team CSC 9 8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 8 9 Michal Golas (Pol) Unibet.com 7 10 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 6 11 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 5 12 Jose Alberto Benitez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 4 13 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 3 14 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 2 15 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1 Teams 1 Caisse d'Epargne 13.32.30 2 Team CSC 3 Unibet.com (Continental) 4 Rabobank 5 Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 6 Relax-Gam 7 Lampre-Fondital 8 Fuerteventura-Canarias 13.35.35 9 Saunier Duval-Prodir 13.38.49 10 Andalucia-Cayasur 11 Karpin-Galacia 12 Astana 13.41.54 13 Grupo Nicolás Mateos 13.45.08 14 Euskaltel-Euskadi General classification after stage 1 1 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 4.30.50 2 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 3 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team CSC 4 Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com 5 Giuseppe Palumbro (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 6 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 7 Lars Bak (Den) Team CSC 8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 9 Michal Golas (Pol) Unibet.com 10 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 11 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 12 Jose Alberto Benitez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 13 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 14 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 15 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 16 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Relax-Gam 17 Joaquin Sobrino (Spa) Relax-Gam 18 Manuel Lloret (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 19 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Unibet.com 20 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Astana 21 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Relax-Gam 22 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 23 Andrea Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 24 David Bernabeu (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 25 Manuel Vazquez (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 26 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) Rabobank 27 Carlos Castaño (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 28 Massimo Codol (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 29 Pablo de Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 30 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 31 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 32 Marco Marzano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 33 Dario Andriotto (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 34 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Rabobank 35 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Unibet.com 36 Koldo Gil (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 37 Michael Blaudzun (Den) Team CSC 38 Rodriguez Luis Perez (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 39 Isidro Nozal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 40 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 41 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Rabobank 42 Nicki Sörensen (Den) Team CSC 43 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Unibet.com 3.03 44 Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe) Unibet.com 45 Julian Sanchez (Spa) Relax-Gam 3.05 46 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 47 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 48 Iker Flores (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 49 Evgeniy Sladkov (Kaz) Astana 50 Giuseppe Muraglia (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 51 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 52 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Rabobank 3.10 53 Diego Milan (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 6.19 54 Claudio José Casas (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 55 Gorka Amuriza (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 56 Beñat Intxausti (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 57 Unai Uribarri (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 58 Antonio Olmo (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 59 Jose Ruiz (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 60 Jose Luis Carrasco (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 61 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 62 Ruben Lobato (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 63 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Astana 64 Stefano Cavallari (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 65 José Rujano (Ven) Unibet.com 66 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 67 Sébastien Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 68 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 69 Victor Hugo Peña (Col) Unibet.com 70 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Lampre-Fondital 71 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC 72 Jorge Perez (Spa) Relax-Gam 73 David Abal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 74 José Antonio Baños (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 75 Marcos A. Serrano (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 76 Santiago Perez (Spa) Relax-Gam 77 Manuel Ortega (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 78 Jorge Ferrio (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 79 Luis Fernandez (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 80 Inigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 81 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Astana 82 José Angel Gomez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 83 Joan Horrach (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 84 Inigo Cuesta (Spa) Team CSC 85 Arkaitz Duran (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 86 Morris Possoni (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 87 Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana 88 Rodrigo Garcia (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 89 Oscar Garcia (Spa) Relax-Gam 90 Mario De Sarraga (Spa) Relax-Gam 91 Miguel Ochoa (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 92 José Adrian Bonilla (CRc) Fuerteventura-Canarias 6.52 93 David De la Fuente (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 7.01 94 Jorge Azanza (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 9.16 95 Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 96 Alexey Kolessov (Kaz) Astana 97 Lander Aperribay (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 98 David Muñoz (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 99 Vicente Peiro (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 100 Gonzalo Rabunal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 101 Mauricio A. Ardila (Col) Rabobank 102 Enrique Salgueiro (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 103 Vicente Ballester (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 104 Michael Schär (Swi) Astana 105 Javier Cherro (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 106 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC Mountains classification 1 Manuel Vazquez (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 6 pts 2 Pablo de Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 4 3 Gonzalo Rabunal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 2 Points classification 1 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 25 pts 2 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 20 3 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team CSC 16 4 Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com 14 5 Giuseppe Palumbro (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 12 6 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 10 7 Lars Bak (Den) Team CSC 9 8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 9 9 Michal Golas (Pol) Unibet.com 7 10 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 6 11 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 5 12 Jose Alberto Benitez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 4 13 Manuel Vazquez (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 3 14 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Rabobank 3 15 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 3 16 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 2 17 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Relax-Gam 2 18 Gonzalo Rabunal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 2 19 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1 20 Pablo de Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 1 Combination classification 1 Manuel Vazquez (Spa) Andalucia-Cayasur 39 pts 2 Pablo de Pedro (Spa) Grupo Nicolás Mateos 51 3 Gonzalo Rabunal (Spa) Karpin-Galicia 121 4 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2 5 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 4 6 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team CSC 6 7 Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com 8 8 Giuseppe Palumbro (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 10 9 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 12 10 Lars Bak (Den) Team CSC 14 11 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 16 Teams 1 Caisse d'Epargne 13.32.30 2 Team CSC 3 Unibet.com (Continental) 4 Rabobank 5 Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 6 Relax-Gam 7 Lampre-Fondital 8 Fuerteventura-Canarias 13.35.35 9 Saunier Duval-Prodir 13.38.49 10 Andalucia-Cayasur 11 Karpin-Galacia 12 Astana 13.41.54 13 Grupo Nicolás Mateos 13.45.08 14 Euskaltel-Euskadi
