Gilbert prevails in Málaga

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Philippe Gilbert of Omega Pharma-Lotto powered away from the field on the ascent to the finish to take a solo stage win in Malaga. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) gave chase but was only able to take second place, three seconds later, with third going to Eusakaltel's Igor Anton.

Gilbert took over the general classification lead from sprinter Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) as the Manxman finished more than 25 minutes behind Gilbert in 142nd place on the Vuelta's first mountain stage. Rodriguez is second at 14 seconds, with HTC-Columbia's Constantine Sivtsov third at 22 seconds.

The tragic figure of the day was Serafin Martinez. The Xacobeo Galicia rider was in the escape group of the day, and was the only escapee to remain in front over the category one Puerto del León climb situated 37.5km from the finish. The Spaniard looked to have wrapped up the stage, the mountains jersey and the general classification lead, but his lead proved to be too small and he was caught at the flamme rouge.

Liquigas led the flying field under the 1km banner, but it was Gilbert who broke out. He powered his way impressively up the ascending finish, with Rodriguez never getting seriously close.

"I've suffered yesterday like 95 percent of the riders in the bunch and I was dropped in the last three kilometres of the Puerto de León," said Gilbert. "I lost maybe 30 seconds but I didn't panic because I had studied the course really well and I knew what I was doing when I rode at my own pace. On the downhill I took a lot of risks to come back. I rode from car to car. When I made it across to the bunch I quickly moved to the first 20 positions to avoid any crashes.

"I received a great help from my teammates, especially Jan Bakelandts, who closed the gap to the Galicia rider (Serafin Martinez), and Greg van Avermaet, so I managed to start the final climb in the first five positions. I accelerated 600 metres from the finish line. I knew all the curves and the details of the route because I had done it in a car this morning.

"It's a similar climb as the Cauberg in the Amstel Gold Race. I climbed on the big ring with a 53 and I rode fast: at 35km/h. I came to the Vuelta for gearing up for the world championships and with the ambition of winning a stage. The second goal is already reached. I felt it was a long time since I last won a race. It was stage one of the Tour of Belgium in May. The surprise comes from the fact that I get the red jersey as well. It's a nice surprise because it's my first leader's jersey in a Grand Tour. Now I'll do my best to respect this jersey."

Runner-up Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) was full of praise for the Belgian winner. "Gilbert was the favourite and I lost because of wrong positioning," said Rodriguez. "I would have lost anyway because Gilbert is faster than me. He's a great winner. I wanted to win because I felt good. I did the same preparation as before the Tour de France in Andorra. Tomorrow’s stage suits me even more than today’s and I think that some riders will pay the bill for the heat we've experienced again today."

Dmitry Konyshev, Katusha directeur sportif, also has high hopes for Rodriguez. "This stage is the story of a great classic specialist who beats a climber. Gilbert was unbeatable but it was a good try from Joaquin. We don't want to forget that he's here for winning the Vuelta. I think he'll win tomorrow."

Serafin Martinez was at least able to claim the blue polka-dot jersey as the mountains classification leader for his efforts, ahead of David Moncoutie (Cofidis) and Milram's Niki Terpstra. "The Puerto de León was one kilometre too long for me," said Martinez. "I was creeping at the end but yet, with five kilometres to go, I thought I'd win the stage because I heard in the radio that I had 1:30 lead but I looked back, and, Madre mia! The dream fell out.

"The polka dot jersey is a consolation prize and I'll try to keep it as long as I can but the main goal of our team remains to win a stage."

Yuaheni Hutarovich (FdJ) held on the green points jersey, with Gilbert moving into second place and shoving Cavendish down to third.

An early break

The day's first climb came quite early on, only nine kilometres into the stage, and as expected, red jersey Mark Cavendish of HTC-Columbia promptly fell back on the category two Puerto de Ojén ascent. John Lee Augustyn and Ben Swift, both of Team Sky, had to leave the race early on, apparently due to food poisoning.

Dutch champion Niki Terpstra (Milram) was one of the first to successfully get away. He was the first over the Puerto de Ojén, and after a few other attempts, a group was formed. Biel Kadri (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Javier Ramirez (Andalucia-Cajasur), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Michael Cherel (FDJ), Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Niki Terpstra (Milram) and Serafin Martinez (Xacobeo Galicia) formed the escape group of the day.

It was another hot day, and the field was happy to see the seven go. When the gap hit 8:30, however, the pack reacted and started bringing their advantage down again.

The main impediment of the day was the category one Puerto del Leon climb at kilometre 120, and it worked as expected. The peloton fell apart quickly on the climb, with the sprinters dropping off the back while Caisse d'Epargne forced the pace up front. Rabobank, Liquigas-Doimo and Saxo Bank, who also have GC candidates in their ranks, did their part to keep the speed up.

Ahead of them, the break group broke up, too, as the peloton came nearer and nearer. Serafin Martinez was the only escapee to remain off the front of the peloton as he crossed the summit alone.

Gradients up to 10 percent and the high temperatures did their part, mercilessly cutting the peloton down. None of it seemed to bother David Moncoutie (Cofidis), who jumped easily out of the field to take second place on the climb behind Martinez.

There were only 37.5km to the finish line from the top of the climb, but Martinez wasn't taking any chances on the narrow road going down. He looked to have things wrapped up, but his narrow lead didn't hold and the field caught him at the flamme rouge with one kilometre remaining.