Hunter scores for Garmin-Transitions
By Cycling News published
Bunch sprint finale for Murcia stage 1
Robbie Hunter (Garmin - Transitions) sprinted to victory in the Tour of Murcia's opening stage today, taking his first win of the season and the US ProTour team's first on European soil. The 32-year-old South African bested Graeme Brown (Rabobank) and Vicente Reynes (HTC - Columbia) at the finish in San Pedro del Pinatar, denying Brown the opportunity to win Murcia's first stage for the third consecutive year.
Garmin - Transitions was also active from the stage start as the break of the day was initiated by Hunter's teammate Danny Pate and Frenchman Alexandre Blain (Endura Racing) after 11km of racing. The duo were soon joined by Rubén Reig (Caja Rural) and Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) and the four escapees found themselves 5:15 ahead of the field after 26 kilometres.
That would prove to be the quartet's largest advantage as the peloton chipped away at their lead, ultimately absorbing them inside of 20 kilometres to the finish following 135km of freedom.
Blain claimed the intermediate sprint jersey along the way, a big achievement for the British team. "I decided with the wind and the climbs today that I would go on the attack. I wanted the Meta Volantes jersey and I took that today. I am pleased, it shows that we are not just here for show but that we came to race. This is good for the Endura Racing Team. I am very pleased."
The teams of the sprinters kept the tempo high into San Pedro del Pinatar, particularly Team Milram and Rabobank, and their efforts split the peloton. Milram's and Rabobank's respective sprinters, Roger Kluge and Graeme Brown, however would be out-kicked at the finish line by Robbie Hunter (Garmin - Transitions).
"Over the last climb of the day the field started to split and the speed was really high," said Garmin - Transitions director Johnny Weltz. "The break was caught with 20 km to go. In the cross wind the field split into several groups but we had our key hitters up there: [David] Zabriskie, Robbie [Hunter] and Danny [Pate].
"As we approached the finish more people got dropped in the cross wind and the reduced group was a perfect scenario for us where Robbie rounded up the day with a clear victory!"
All of the general classification favourites such as defending champion Denis Menchov (Rabobank), Team RadioShack's Lance Armstrong and Andreas Klöden, Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) and David Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions) arrived at the finish in the 55-rider strong lead group. The one notable absence was sprinter Theo Bos (Cervélo Test Team) who was expected to vie for stage honours, but the Dutchman missed the split and finished 1:08 behind Hunter.
With the stage victory, Hunter also assumed the first leader's jersey at the Tour of Murcia.
The peloton faces a more challenging stage two tomorrow as they race 169.8km from Calasparra to Caravaca de la Cruz. The category 1 Alto de San Juan will be tackled twice, although the field will have 40km of downhill and flat ground after the second crossing to regroup by the finish line.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin - Transitions | 4:15:40 |
2 | Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank | |
3 | Vicente Reynes (Spa) Team HTC - Columbia | |
4 | Roger Kluge (Ger) Team Milram | |
5 | Daryl Impey (RSA) Team Radioshack | |
6 | Krzystof Jezowsky (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
7 | Michal Golas (Pol) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
8 | Russell Downing (GBr) Team Sky | |
9 | Daniel Schorn (Aut) Team Netapp | |
10 | Ian Wilkilson (GBr) Endura Racing | |
11 | Bolat Raimbekov (Kaz) Astana | |
12 | Víctor Cabedo (Spa) Spanish National Team | |
13 | Egor Korolev (Rus) Russian National Team | |
14 | Josep Jufre (Spa) Astana | |
15 | Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Milram | |
16 | Alexandre Blain (Fra) Endura Racing | |
17 | Sergey Shilov (Rus) Russian National Team | |
18 | Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
19 | John Lee Augustyn (RSA) Team Sky | |
20 | Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
21 | Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky | |
22 | Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Team Sky | |
23 | Sergey Chernetskiy (Rus) Russian National Team | |
24 | Nicolas Portal (Fra) Team Sky | |
25 | Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
26 | Wouter Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
27 | Artur Ershow (Rus) Russian National Team | |
28 | José Herrada (Spa) Caja Rural | |
29 | Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky | |
30 | Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) Team HTC - Columbia | |
31 | Martin Velits (Svk) Team HTC - Columbia | |
32 | Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Team Milram | |
33 | Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank | |
34 | Frantisek Rabon (Cze) Team HTC - Columbia | |
35 | Gert Dockx (Bel) Team HTC - Columbia | |
36 | Gregory Rast (Swi) Team Radioshack | |
37 | Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana | |
38 | Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Radioshack | |
39 | Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank | |
40 | Matteo Carrara (Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
41 | Alexsandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Astana | |
42 | Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank | |
43 | Patrick Gretsch (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia | |
44 | Rubén Reig (Spa) Caja Rural | |
45 | Peter Wrolich (Aut) Team Milram | |
46 | Lance Armstrong (USA) Team Radioshack | |
47 | Danny Pate (USA) Garmin - Transitions | |
48 | Vitor Rodrigues (Por) Caja Rural | |
49 | Dominik Nerz (Ger) Team Milram | |
50 | David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Transitions | |
51 | José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Team Radioshack | |
52 | Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Team Netapp | |
53 | Jason Mccartney (USA) Team Radioshack | |
54 | Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Team Radioshack | |
55 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank | |
56 | Stefan Denifl (Aut) Cervélo Test Team | 0:00:38 |
57 | Marcel Wyss (Swi) Cervélo Test Team | |
58 | Evan Oliphant (GBr) Endura Racing | |
59 | Jan Barta (Cze) Team Netapp | |
60 | Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana | |
61 | Salvador Guardiola (Spa) Spanish National Team | |
62 | Morris Possoni (Ita) Team Sky | |
63 | Oleg Chuzhda (Ukr) Caja Rural | |
64 | Jack Bauer (NZl) Endura Racing | 0:00:58 |
65 | Oscar Pujol (Spa) Cervélo Test Team | 0:01:04 |
66 | Theo Bos (Ned) Cervélo Test Team | 0:01:08 |
67 | Bjorn Schroder (Ger) Team Milram | 0:01:52 |
68 | Mauricio Ardila (Col) Rabobank | 0:02:48 |
69 | Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Team Netapp | |
70 | Dariusz Batek (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
71 | Robert Partridge (GBr) Endura Racing | |
72 | Philip Deignan (Irl) Cervélo Test Team | |
73 | Jan Ghyselinck (Bel) Team HTC - Columbia | |
74 | Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Cervélo Test Team | |
75 | Erik Mohs (Ger) German National Team | |
76 | Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) Rabobank | |
77 | Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin - Transitions | |
78 | Antonio Cabello (Spa) Spanish National Team | 0:07:46 |
79 | Nico Keinath (Ger) Team Netapp | |
80 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
81 | Dominik Roels (Ger) Team Milram | |
82 | James Moss (GBr) Endura Racing | |
83 | Ross Creber (GBr) Endura Racing | |
84 | José Carlos Lara (Spa) Spanish National Team | |
85 | Tomasz Lisowicz (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
86 | Adan Sznitko (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
87 | Higinio Fernández (Spa) Caja Rural | |
88 | Timon Seubert (Ger) Team Netapp | |
89 | Arturo Mora (Spa) Caja Rural | |
90 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Caja Rural | |
91 | Lukasz Bodnart (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
92 | Robert Bengsch (Ger) German National Team | |
93 | Robert Bartko (Ger) German National Team | |
94 | Stefan Schafer (Ger) German National Team | |
95 | Marcel Barth (Ger) German National Team | |
96 | Henning Bommel (Ger) German National Team | |
97 | Manuel Anton (Spa) Spanish National Team | |
98 | David Calatayud (Spa) Spanish National Team | |
99 | Roman Kireyev (Kaz) Astana | |
100 | Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana | |
101 | Maxim Kozyrev (Rus) Russian National Team | |
102 | Alexander Sokolov (Rus) Russian National Team | |
103 | Alexander Rybakov (Rus) Russian National Team | |
104 | Joao Correia (Por) Cervélo Test Team | |
105 | Trent Lowe (Aus) Garmin - Transitions | |
106 | Julian Dean (NZl) Garmin - Transitions | |
107 | Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin - Transitions | |
108 | Pablo Lechuga (Spa) Spanish National Team | 0:08:35 |
109 | Tomasz Repinski (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | 0:09:06 |
DNF | Huub Duyn (Ned) Team Netapp | |
DNF | Stephane Rossetto (Fra) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Alexandre Blain (Fra) Endura Racing | 3 | pts |
2 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 2 | |
3 | Rubén Reig (Spa) Caja Rural | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 3 | pts |
2 | Alexandre Blain (Fra) Endura Racing | 2 | |
3 | Rubén Reig (Spa) Caja Rural | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 3 | pts |
2 | Danny Pate (USA) Garmin - Transitions | 2 | |
3 | Rubén Reig (Spa) Caja Rural | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 3 | pts |
2 | Rubén Reig (Spa) Caja Rural | 2 | |
3 | Danny Pate (USA) Garmin - Transitions | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin - Transitions | 25 | pts |
2 | Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank | 20 | |
3 | Vicente Reynes (Spa) Team HTC - Columbia | 16 | |
4 | Roger Kluge (Ger) Team Milram | 14 | |
5 | Daryl Impey (RSA) Team Radioshack | 12 | |
6 | Krzystof Jezowsky (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | 10 | |
7 | Michal Golas (Pol) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 9 | |
8 | Russell Downing (GBr) Team Sky | 8 | |
9 | Daniel Schorn (Aut) Team Netapp | 7 | |
10 | Ian Wilkilson (GBr) Endura Racing | 6 | |
11 | Bolat Raimbekov (Kaz) Astana | 5 | |
12 | Víctor Cabedo (Spa) Spanish National Team | 4 | |
13 | Egor Korolev (Rus) Russian National Team | 3 | |
14 | Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Milram | 2 | |
15 | Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Milram | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Alexandre Blain (Fra) Endura Racing | 3 | pts |
2 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 2 | |
3 | Rubén Reig (Spa) Caja Rural | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 12:47:00 |
2 | Team Sky | |
3 | Team Milram | |
4 | Russian National team | |
5 | Astana | |
6 | Team HTC - Columbia | |
7 | Rabobank | |
8 | Team Radioshack | |
9 | Garmin - Transitions | |
10 | Caja Rural | |
11 | Endura Racing | 0:00:38 |
12 | Team Netapp | |
13 | Cervélo Test Team | 0:02:20 |
14 | CCC Polsat Polkowice | 0:02:48 |
15 | Spanish National Team | 0:08:24 |
16 | German National Team | 0:18:20 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin - Transitions | 4:15:40 |
2 | Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank | |
3 | Vicente Reynes (Spa) Team HTC - Columbia | |
4 | Roger Kluge (Ger) Team Milram | |
5 | Daryl Impey (RSA) Team Radioshack | |
6 | Krzystof Jezowsky (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
7 | Michal Golas (Pol) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
8 | Russell Downing (GBr) Team Sky | |
9 | Daniel Schorn (Aut) Team Netapp | |
10 | Ian Wilkilson (GBr) Endura Racing | |
11 | Bolat Raimbekov (Kaz) Astana | |
12 | Víctor Cabedo (Spa) Spanish National Team | |
13 | Egor Korolev (Rus) Russian National Team | |
14 | Josep Jufre (Spa) Astana | |
15 | Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Milram | |
16 | Alexandre Blain (Fra) Endura Racing | |
17 | Sergey Shilov (Rus) Russian National Team | |
18 | Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
19 | John Lee Augustyn (RSA) Team Sky | |
20 | Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
21 | Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky | |
22 | Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Team Sky | |
23 | Sergey Chernetskiy (Rus) Russian National Team | |
24 | Nicolas Portal (Fra) Team Sky | |
25 | Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
26 | Wouter Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
27 | Artur Ershow (Rus) Russian National Team | |
28 | José Herrada (Spa) Caja Rural | |
29 | Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky | |
30 | Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) Team HTC - Columbia | |
31 | Martin Velits (Svk) Team HTC - Columbia | |
32 | Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Team Milram | |
33 | Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank | |
34 | Frantisek Rabon (Cze) Team HTC - Columbia | |
35 | Gert Dockx (Bel) Team HTC - Columbia | |
36 | Gregory Rast (Swi) Team Radioshack | |
37 | Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana | |
38 | Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Radioshack | |
39 | Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank | |
40 | Matteo Carrara (Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
41 | Alexsandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Astana | |
42 | Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank | |
43 | Patrick Gretsch (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia | |
44 | Rubén Reig (Spa) Caja Rural | |
45 | Peter Wrolich (Aut) Team Milram | |
46 | Lance Armstrong (USA) Team Radioshack | |
47 | Danny Pate (USA) Garmin - Transitions | |
48 | Vitor Rodrigues (Por) Caja Rural | |
49 | Dominik Nerz (Ger) Team Milram | |
50 | David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Transitions | |
51 | José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Team Radioshack | |
52 | Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Team Netapp | |
53 | Jason Mccartney (USA) Team Radioshack | |
54 | Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Team Radioshack | |
55 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank | |
56 | Stefan Denifl (Aut) Cervélo Test Team | 0:00:38 |
57 | Marcel Wyss (Swi) Cervélo Test Team | |
58 | Evan Oliphant (GBr) Endura Racing | |
59 | Jan Barta (Cze) Team Netapp | |
60 | Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana | |
61 | Salvador Guardiola (Spa) Spanish National Team | |
62 | Morris Possoni (Ita) Team Sky | |
63 | Oleg Chuzhda (Ukr) Caja Rural | |
64 | Jack Bauer (NZl) Endura Racing | 0:00:58 |
65 | Oscar Pujol (Spa) Cervélo Test Team | 0:01:04 |
66 | Theo Bos (Ned) Cervélo Test Team | 0:01:08 |
67 | Bjorn Schroder (Ger) Team Milram | 0:01:52 |
68 | Mauricio Ardila (Col) Rabobank | 0:02:48 |
69 | Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Team Netapp | |
70 | Dariusz Batek (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
71 | Robert Partridge (GBr) Endura Racing | |
72 | Philip Deignan (Irl) Cervélo Test Team | |
73 | Jan Ghyselinck (Bel) Team HTC - Columbia | |
74 | Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Cervélo Test Team | |
75 | Erik Mohs (Ger) German National Team | |
76 | Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) Rabobank | |
77 | Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin - Transitions | |
78 | Antonio Cabello (Spa) Spanish National Team | 0:07:46 |
79 | Nico Keinath (Ger) Team Netapp | |
80 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
81 | Dominik Roels (Ger) Team Milram | |
82 | James Moss (GBr) Endura Racing | |
83 | Ross Creber (GBr) Endura Racing | |
84 | José Carlos Lara (Spa) Spanish National Team | |
85 | Tomasz Lisowicz (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
86 | Adan Sznitko (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
87 | Higinio Fernández (Spa) Caja Rural | |
88 | Timon Seubert (Ger) Team Netapp | |
89 | Arturo Mora (Spa) Caja Rural | |
90 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Caja Rural | |
91 | Lukasz Bodnart (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
92 | Robert Bengsch (Ger) German National Team | |
93 | Robert Bartko (Ger) German National Team | |
94 | Stefan Schafer (Ger) German National Team | |
95 | Marcel Barth (Ger) German National Team | |
96 | Henning Bommel (Ger) German National Team | |
97 | Manuel Anton (Spa) Spanish National Team | |
98 | David Calatayud (Spa) Spanish National Team | |
99 | Roman Kireyev (Kaz) Astana | |
100 | Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana | |
101 | Maxim Kozyrev (Rus) Russian National Team | |
102 | Alexander Sokolov (Rus) Russian National Team | |
103 | Alexander Rybakov (Rus) Russian National Team | |
104 | Joao Correia (Por) Cervélo Test Team | |
105 | Trent Lowe (Aus) Garmin - Transitions | |
106 | Julian Dean (NZl) Garmin - Transitions | |
107 | Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin - Transitions | |
108 | Pablo Lechuga (Spa) Spanish National Team | 0:08:35 |
109 | Tomasz Repinski (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | 0:09:06 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Alexandre Blain (Fra) Endura Racing | 3 | pts |
2 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 2 | |
3 | Rubén Reig (Spa) Caja Rural | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 9 | pts |
2 | Rubén Reig (Spa) Caja Rural | 4 | |
3 | Danny Pate (USA) Garmin - Transitions | 3 | |
4 | Alexandre Blain (Fra) Endura Racing | 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin - Transitions | 25 | pts |
2 | Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank | 20 | |
3 | Vicente Reynes (Spa) Team HTC - Columbia | 16 | |
4 | Roger Kluge (Ger) Team Milram | 14 | |
5 | Daryl Impey (RSA) Team Radioshack | 12 | |
6 | Krzystof Jezowsky (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | 10 | |
7 | Michal Golas (Pol) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 9 | |
8 | Russell Downing (GBr) Team Sky | 8 | |
9 | Daniel Schorn (Aut) Team Netapp | 7 | |
10 | Ian Wilkilson (GBr) Endura Racing | 6 | |
11 | Bolat Raimbekov (Kaz) Astana | 5 | |
12 | Víctor Cabedo (Spa) Spanish National Team | 4 | |
13 | Alexandre Blain (Fra) Endura Racing | 3 | |
14 | Egor Korolev (Rus) Russian National Team | 3 | |
15 | Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Milram | 2 | |
16 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 2 | |
17 | Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Milram | 1 | |
18 | Rubén Reig (Spa) Caja Rural | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 12:47:00 |
2 | Team Sky | |
3 | Team Milram | |
4 | Russian National team | |
5 | Astana | |
6 | Team HTC - Columbia | |
7 | Rabobank | |
8 | Team Radioshack | |
9 | Garmin - Transitions | |
10 | Caja Rural | |
11 | Endura Racing | 0:00:38 |
12 | Team Netapp | |
13 | Cervélo Test Team | 0:02:20 |
14 | CCC Polsat Polkowice | 0:02:48 |
15 | Spanish National Team | 0:08:24 |
16 | German National Team | 0:18:20 |

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