Erviti solos to stage win

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Another day, another tricky descent and another Caisse d’Epargne stage win, as Imanol Erviti triumphed in Vilanova i la Geltrú. On a day filled with wild speculation over just how many hours sleep Saxo Bank pair Andy Schleck and Stuart O’Grady had last night, Erviti caught his breakaway companions napping on the way down the Rat Penat to take victory and thus follow in the tracks of teammate David Lopez.

While Erviti slipped away for the second Vuelta stage win of his career, Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) took enough bonus seconds earlier in the day to relieve Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi) of the red jersey and move into the overall lead in his home region of Catalonia. He now leads by two seconds with Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) continuing to threaten in third place.

“I accelerated a little on the descent and I quickly found myself with a few metres of a gap,” Erviti explained afterwards “I know that I’m a good rouleur and my thing is attacking from distance. Behind, they looked at one another and that was my chance.”

Unlike his stage win at Las Rozas in 2008, this time around Erviti could allow his achievement to sink in even as he rode. “That day I had to sprint against Nicolas Roche and I didn’t have time to savour the victory. But today, it was different because although I suffered, at the same time I knew that the victory couldn’t escape me,” he said.

Rodriguez was ecstatic on taking the red jersey that had so narrowly eluded him for much of the first week and he was particularly pleased to wear it in his home region of Catalonia. “It’s sensational,” he said. “The value of this jersey is even higher because of the hard work we’ve done to get it.”

“Every rider has his own view on tactics. Some prefer to take the leader’s jersey as late as possible but for me, any advantage is good to take. I need to gain seconds anywhere before the time trial,” he continued. “We’ve worked a lot at the head of the peloton even without having the jersey, so we’ll just continue the job we already started several days ago.”

For his part, Anton kept his disappointment at losing the lead in perspective. “It’s a pity for the team that I didn’t succeed in keeping it,” he said. “But for me, it’s still a dream that became reality, because leading a Grand Tour is something precious and special.”

Grinding up the Rat Penat

The stage was expected to be dominated by the steep pitches of the climb of the Alto de Rat Penat, 30km from the finish, but ultimately it was the technical descent that proved the decisive factor. Erviti was part of an eleven-man breakaway that reached the slopes of the first category climb with an advantage of 2:50 over the peloton, but the expected carnage on the way up the climb failed to materialise.

Christophe Le Mevel (FDJ) and Javier Moreno (Andalucia-Cajasur) went to the front on the steepest section of the spectacular Rat Penat just as its gradient went up to 23%. Under their impetus, the front group began to splinter and initially it looked as though they might do enough to distance their companions and dispute the stage themselves. Le Mevel in particular was looking strong, but once the road began to flatten slightly 3km from the summit, the gap to the others began to dwindle. As Erviti pointed out afterwards, “I suffered a lot in the climb of Rat Penat but I didn’t lose much time.” This failure to distance the canny Caisse d’Epargne man on the climb would prove very costly.

Le Mevel led Moreno over the top of the climb but their advantage was down to just three seconds, as Mauro Finetto (Liquigas-Doimo), Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) and Romain Zingle (Cofidis) gave chase. These five riders were eventually joined by Erviti, Anders Lund (Saxo Bank), Giampaolo Cheula (Footon-Servetto) and Greg Van Avermaet (Omega Pharma-Lotto) early on the descent.

Meanwhile, back in the main field, Katusha, and in particular Vladimir Karpets, had done the lion’s share of the work on the way up the climb and while they deposited a number of riders out the back of the bunch, none of the overall contenders appeared in any difficulty.
Over the top of the climb Marcos Garcia (Xacobeo-Galicia) sparked a four-man counter attack that briefly threatened to bridge the gap to the leaders, but the quartet soon lost their rhythm when Carlos Barredo (Quick Step) slipped his chain on the twisting roads and it was left to the men in front to fight it out for stage victory.

The winning move

With 20km to go, Erviti made his move, slipping off the front just after the break had tackled one of the short and sharp uphill sections that punctuated the descent. Like Lopez on Sunday, he timed his move to perfection and took advantage of the sinuous nature of the descent to move out of sight and seemingly out of mind as he quickly opened up a 30-second advantage.

“I tried my luck,” Erviti modestly stated after the stage, but in reality luck had precious little to do with it. The narrow roads suited his well-timed escape perfectly as it was difficult for his erstwhile breakaway companions to organise a cohesive chase behind. This problem was compounded by the chasers’ apparent disagreement over whose responsibility it was to lead the pursuit. Their unity was fractured at best and was summed up by first Finetto and then Zingle’s futile efforts to chase alone in the final kilometres.

8km from the line, the roads became straighter and wider as the race approached Vilanova i la Geltrú but by that point, Erviti still had his half-minute lead intact and showed no signs of weakening. Out of the main bunch, Dmitry Fofonov (Astana) made a bid to bridge the gap but 1:20 still separating him from Erviti, it was too little, too late.

Erviti had time to savour his stage win in the finishing straight, while Zingle led Van Avermaet and the rest of the chasers over the line 37 seconds back. Daniele Bennati (Liquigas-Doimo) took the bunch sprint for 11th place at 1:38, while the main contenders all arrived together, with Rodriguez moving into the overall lead.

The early exchanges

The major news on the start line was Bjarne Riis’ decision to send Andy Schleck and Stuart O’Grady home from the Vuelta for breaking team rules by drinking alcohol after dinner the previous night. Once the racing the started, however, the remainder of the peloton showed no signs of a post-rest day hangover as it covered 47 kilometres in a hyperactive first hour of racing.

The reason for this breakneck early speed was that Katusha were refusing to let a breakaway form until after the first intermediate sprint, as they sought to place Joaquin Rodriguez in the red jersey. They ultimately achieved their objective, though it was a close run thing for the Catalan rider. Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) took first and second, but Rodriguez managed to take the two-second bonus for third and move into the provisional lead.

Immediately after the sprint, the main break of the day formed, with the irrepressible Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) forcing the initiative. He was joined by Blel Kadri (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Javier Moreno (Andalucia-Cajasur), Imanol Erviti (Caisse d’Epargne), Romain Zingle (Cofidis), Giampaolo Cheula (Fotton-Servetto), Christophe Le Mevel (FDJ), Manuele Mori (Lampre), Mauro Finetto (Liquigas-Doimo), Greg Van Avermaet (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) and Anders Lund (Saxo Bank).

They quickly gained almost three minutes and Gilbert moved into the overall lead on the road after taking the next bonus sprint but with Katusha beginning to take a firm interest behind, the Belgian gallantly sat up to allow his companions and in particular his teammate Van Avermaet a better chance of staying clear. Afterwards, Erviti was fulsome in his praise of Gilbert’s gesture: “I’ve thanked Philippe Gilbert for giving the breakaway a chance to succeed. He’s a great champion!”

Once Gilbert and, accordingly, Katusha relented, the breakaway built up a maximum lead of 5:40 and in reaching the foot of the Rat Penat with three minutes of that lead still intact, they were destined to decide the stage between them.

On the climb itself, although a shoot-out among the overall contenders never materialised, Vincenzo Nibali’s decision to send some of his Liquigas team to the front to control affairs on the descent was another indication that the Italian is in fine form and will pose a serious threat to Rodriguez’s red jersey in the days to come.

In the meantime, Rodriguez is adamant that he will enjoy tomorrow’s stage in his backyard. “Tomorrow’s finish suits me as I train a lot in Andorra prior to the Grand Tours. This is a stage that can help me gain time over my rivals,” he said. “The whole Katusha team is happy with the situation and I expect big support on the Catalan roadsides tomorrow.”