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42nd Vuelta al País Vasco - 2.HC
Spain, April 8-12, 2002
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Stage 5a - April 12: Villabona - Elgoibar, 94 km
Osa increases lead, Etxebarria jumps to second, battle royale for third
By Martin Hardie, cyclingnews.com correspondent
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Stage 5a of the Itzulia has seen the orange armada take its first stage, with David Etxebarria imposing his speed on his four breakaway companions, he now moves to second overall. Aitor Osa, one of Etxebarria's companions in the break, has taken more time out of Fernandez and a battle for third looms in the afternoon uphill time trial between Evans, Boogerd and Bayarri.
The morning stage headed out from Billlabona towards the picturesque Guipuzcoan coast before heading back inland to Elgoibar passing, save for the final loop through the hills around Elgoibar, parallel much of the time to the main San Sebastian - Bilbao freeway. David Etxebarria must have felt like he was heading home as they turned inland from the coast, and if the race had continued much further past Elgoibar he would have been. What he did instead was log up his first victory of the season after coming so close during similar weather in the final stage of the Setmana Catalana.
The stage was only short but full of difficult climbs. To give the uninitiated an idea of the hilly nature of Euskadi, the 90 odd kilometres had four Cat. 2's and two Cat. 1's! The landscape says something about the independence of the Basque people - villages and districts are found mostly in the valleys and lower slopes, all separated by steep hills and often rocky cliff faces, the roads wind through these valleys and up over the steep gradients to join one town, village or district with the next. With these natural barriers, local attachments run deep.
The country has also taken its toll on the peloton, the four stages to date has seen a reduction of the original 188 cyclists with only 95 starting this stage. That's nearly half the peloton out in four stages. Alex Zülle and Francesco Casagrande being the most notable recent withdrawals. Manuel Beltran didn't start today.
Twenty minutes into the stage an attack by Rolf Aldag (Telekom) and Bram De Groot (Rabobank) opened up a 45 second gap at kilometre 15. Three kilometres later a pursuit commenced including Joaquin Rodríguez (ONCE - Eroski), Pietro Caucchioli (Alessio) and Tyler Hamilton (CSC). They joined the original pair and a group of six had 30 seconds on the bunch headed by Banesto, who were enduring a multitude of attacks by teams trying to upset their control of the race.
During the first 50 kilometres the race crossed the Andazarrate Cat.2, Garate, Cat.2, and the Endoia, Cat1. Over the Endoia the escapees still had a 50 second gap. After 60 kilometres and the crossing of the Alto de Azurki (Cat. 1) and its 15% percent ramps, the race was completely fragmented. Cadel Evans (Mapei) escaped and a quartet formed behind him consisting of Michael Boogerd (Rabobank), David Etxebarria (Euskaltel), Aitor Osa (iBanesto) and Bayarri (Relax). At this point Bingen Fernández, had lost 2.17 to Osa.
Evans was caught by the quartet on the descent and Osa had increased his advantage over Fernandez to the best part of three minutes. By the time they reached to foot of the next climb and the first crossing of the Azkarate (Cat.2) Bingen Fernández was suffering greatly and Osa's lead was 3.30. The leading group of five had a lead of one minute over fifteen pursuers including Belli (Fassa), Vinokourov (Telekom), Garzelli (Mapei), Noe (Mapei), Aerts (Lotto), Mercado (iBanesto), Sheffer (Alessio), Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel) and Fernando Escartín (Coast).
The race went over the fog covered Azkarate for a second time as it lopped back to the east of Elgoibar, the leading group managed to keep the gap to the pursuers at about a minute as they descended and headed to the finish.
In Elgoibar the sprint was launched with Etxebarria positioned in the central part of the road, taking the victory with ease from his breakaway companions. With it he took second place overall. Yesterday's winner, Franco Pellizotti arrived in the pursuing group around a minute behind Etxebarria, probably not close enough to hold off the challenge by Evans, Boogerd and Bayarri for the final podium.
Results
1 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2.40.49 2 Gonzalo Bayarri (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 3 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 4 Aitor Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 5 Cadel Evans (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step 6 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 0.51 7 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom 8 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 9 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 10 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 11 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 12 Fernando Escartin (Spa) Team Coast 13 Alexander Shefer (Kaz) Alessio 14 Andrea Noe (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 15 Beat Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 1.47 16 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 17 Unai Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 18 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Alessio 19 Udo Bolts (Ger) Team Telekom 20 Juan Jose De Los Angeles (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 21 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) iBanesto.com 22 Marco Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 23 Jorg Jaksche (Ger) ONCE-Eroski 24 Rafael Casero Moreno (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 3.50 25 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio 26 Jose Azevedo (Por) ONCE-Eroski 27 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Lampre-Daikin 5.06 28 Massimo Codol (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 29 Bingen Fernandez (Spa) Cofidis 30 Daniele De Paoli (Ita) Alessio 31 Vladimir Miholjevic (Cro) Alessio 32 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 33 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 34 Antonio Colom (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 35 Santiago Perez Fdez. (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 36 Levy Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 37 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 38 Daniel Atienza (Spa) Cofidis 39 Ricardo Valdez (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 5.11 40 Nicki Sorensen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 41 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis 42 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 43 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 8.43 44 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2R Prevoyance 9.18 45 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R Prevoyance 11.42 46 Abraham Olano (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 47 Thorwald Veneberg (Ned) Rabobank 48 Jose M. Maestre (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 49 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 50 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Rabobank 51 Simone Bertoletti (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 52 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) iBanesto.com 53 Cedric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis 54 Ellis Rastelli (Ita) Gerolsteiner 55 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 56 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Fassa Bortolo 57 Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Saeco-Longoni Sport 13.19 58 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 59 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Team CSC Tiscali 60 Juan Fuentes (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 61 Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis 62 Elio Aggiano (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 63 Francisco Lara (Spa) Team Coast 64 Angelo Lopeboselli (Ita) Cofidis 13.27 65 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank 17.00 66 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Lampre-Daikin 19.52 67 Francis Vila Errandonea (Spa) iBanesto.com 68 Marco Velo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 69 Marcelino Garcia Alonso (Spa) Team CSC Tiscali 70 Jose Garrido (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 71 Alberto Lopez De Munain (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 22.29 72 Marcel Strauss (Swi) Gerolsteiner 73 David Latasa (Spa) iBanesto.com 74 Oscar Laguna (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 75 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 76 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R Prevoyance 77 Oscar Pozzi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo DNF Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Lampre-Daikin DNF Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo DNF Rolf Aldag (Ger) Team Telekom DNF Luca Paolini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step DNF Dario Cioni (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step DNF Thomas Brozyna (Pol) iBanesto.com DNF Inigo Cuesta (Spa) Cofidis DNF Mikel Zarrabeitia (Spa) ONCE-Eroski DNF Gustavo Otero Gomez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca DNF Danny Jonasson (Den) Team CSC Tiscali DNF Alberto Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi DNF Cesar Solaun (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi DNF Igor Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi DNF Inaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi DNF Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport DNF Aitor Garmendia (Spa) Team Coast DNF Manuel Beltran (Spa) Team Coast DNF David Plaza (Spa) Team Coast DNF Gustavo Mario Toledo (Arg) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria Points 1 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 25 pts 2 Gonzalo Bayarri (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 20 3 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 16 4 Aitor Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 14 5 Cadel Evans (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step 12 6 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 10 7 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom 9 8 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 8 9 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 7 10 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 6 11 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5 12 Fernando Escartin (Spa) Team Coast 4 13 Alexander Shefer (Kaz) Alessio 3 14 Andrea Noe (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 2 15 Beat Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 1 Mountains Alto De Orio - Cat. 3 1 Rolf Aldag (Ger) Team Telekom 3 pts 2 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 2 3 Rafael Casero Moreno (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 1 Alto De Garate - Cat. 2 1 Rafael Casero Moreno (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 6 pts 2 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio 4 3 Rolf Aldag (Ger) Team Telekom 2 4 Juan Jose De Los Angeles (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 1 Alto De Endoia - Cat. 1 1 Rafael Casero Moreno (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 10 pts 2 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 8 3 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 6 4 Aitor Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 4 5 Francis Vila Errandonea (Spa) iBanesto.com 2 6 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) iBanesto.com 1 Alto De Azurki - Cat. 1 1 Cadel Evans (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step 10 pts 2 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 8 3 Aitor Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 6 4 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4 5 Gonzalo Bayarri (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 2 6 Fernando Escartin (Spa) Team Coast 1 Alto De Azkarate - Cat. 2 1 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 6 pts 2 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4 3 Aitor Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 2 4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step 1 Alto De Azkarate - Cat. 2 1 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 6 pts 2 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4 3 Aitor Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 2 4 Gonzalo Bayarri (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 1 Metas volantes Zarautz - km 26 1 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 3 pts 2 Rolf Aldag (Ger) Team Telekom 2 3 Rafael Casero Moreno (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 1 Zestoa - km 47 1 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio 3 pts 2 Rafael Casero Moreno (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 2 3 Juan Jose De Los Angeles (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 1 Elgoibar - km 81 1 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 3 pts 2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step 2 3 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1 General classification after stage 5a 1 Aitor Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 17.39.04 2 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3.31 3 Gonzalo Bayarri (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 3.45 4 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 5 Cadel Evans (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step 3.55 6 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4.25 7 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 8 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 4.36 9 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom 10 Fernando Escartin (Spa) Team Coast 11 Alexander Shefer (Kaz) Alessio 4.46 12 Andrea Noe (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 13 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Alessio 5.00 14 Beat Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 5.32 15 Juan Jose De Los Angeles (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 16 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 17 Bingen Fernandez (Spa) Cofidis 5.35 18 Marco Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 5.42 19 Jorg Jaksche (Ger) ONCE-Eroski 20 Udo Bolts (Ger) Team Telekom 7.17 21 Unai Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 7.27 22 Jose Azevedo (Por) ONCE-Eroski 7.45 23 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio 8.21 24 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) iBanesto.com 8.38 25 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 9.01 26 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Lampre-Daikin 27 Rafael Casero Moreno (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 9.18 28 Nicki Sorensen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 10.14 29 Santiago Perez Fdez. (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 10.44 30 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 11.11 31 Antonio Colom (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 11.17 32 Daniel Atienza (Spa) Cofidis 12.33 33 Ricardo Valdez (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 12.38 34 Vladimir Miholjevic (Cro) Alessio 12.49 35 Massimo Codol (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 14.45 36 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 15.13 37 Abraham Olano (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 16.54 38 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 17.06 39 Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis 17.39 40 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 19.25 41 Daniele De Paoli (Ita) Alessio 20.13 42 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Rabobank 20.17 43 Ellis Rastelli (Ita) Gerolsteiner 20.18 44 Levy Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 20.39 45 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) iBanesto.com 22.20 46 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 23.15 47 Francis Vila Errandonea (Spa) iBanesto.com 24.31 48 Jose M. Maestre (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 25.55 49 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 26.38 50 Cedric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis 27.30 51 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 27.59 52 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis 31.36 53 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R Prevoyance 31.50 54 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R Prevoyance 36.00 55 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Fassa Bortolo 36.14 56 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank 38.32 57 Simone Bertoletti (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 39.42 58 Marco Velo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 41.55 59 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2R Prevoyance 42.04 60 Oscar Laguna (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 43.02 61 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 49.24 62 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Lampre-Daikin 50.09 63 Jose Garrido (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 53.53 64 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 54.31 65 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Team CSC Tiscali 55.53 66 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 56.11 67 Thorwald Veneberg (Ned) Rabobank 57.10 68 Francisco Lara (Spa) Team Coast 59.46 69 David Latasa (Spa) iBanesto.com 1.04.24 70 Marcelino Garcia Alonso (Spa) Team CSC Tiscali 1.06.40 71 Alberto Lopez De Munain (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1.08.08 72 Oscar Pozzi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 1.08.33 73 Elio Aggiano (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1.10.13 74 Juan Fuentes (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 1.15.16 75 Angelo Lopeboselli (Ita) Cofidis 1.17.24 76 Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Saeco-Longoni Sport 1.22.51 77 Marcel Strauss (Swi) Gerolsteiner 1.23.55 Points classification 1 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 65 pts 2 Aitor Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 52 3 Beat Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 51 4 Gonzalo Bayarri (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 40 5 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 33 6 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 33 7 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 27 8 Nicki Sorensen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 26 9 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Alessio 25 10 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 23 Mountains classification 1 Rafael Casero Moreno (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 33 pts 2 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 27 3 Massimo Codol (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 25 4 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio 21 5 Aitor Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 20 6 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 12 7 Cadel Evans (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step 11 8 Marcelino Garcia Alonso (Spa) Team CSC Tiscali 11 9 Gonzalo Bayarri (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 10 10 Alberto Lopez De Munain (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 10 Metas volantes classification 1 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio 9 pts 2 Rafael Casero Moreno (Spa) Jazztel-Costa De Almeria 8 3 Massimo Codol (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 7 4 Aitor Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 3 5 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 3 6 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Alessio 3 7 Francis Vila Errandonea (Spa) iBanesto.com 3 8 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 3 9 Nicki Sorensen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 3 10 Marcelino Garcia Alonso (Spa) Team CSC Tiscali 3
