Hushovd smashes sprint in Murcia

While the Alto de la Cresta del Gallo proved too much for many of the Vuelta's sprinters, Norwegian champion Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) survived the category two ascent in the endgame of stage six and prevailed in the field sprint from a diminished peloton. Daniele Bennati (Liquigas-Doimo) finished second and Grega Bole (Lampre-Farnese Vini) rounded out the top three in the 71-rider bunch gallop.

Belgium's Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) finished sixth on the stage and remained in the Vuelta a España's red leader's jersey for another day. Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi) remains in second, 10 seconds behind, while Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) holds third, tied on time with Anton.

"It was a hard day but I'm feeling good on the climbs and getting better and better, so I still had something left for the sprint. A stage like this is perfect for me," Hushovd said of the 151km stage into Murcia. "I knew this kind of climb wasn't suitable for sprinters like Mark Cavendish. I was going uphill mostly in fifth position behind [Philippe] Gilbert and [Filippo] Pozzato who were third and fourth. I dropped down 20 to 25 places 1.5 kilometres before the top of the hill but I got back on the descent.

"It was not as simple as it looked, though. I suffered a lot on the climb but then my teammates [Inigo] Cuesta and [Xavier] Florencio did a good job before the finish. When I saw that [Daniele] Bennati was also there for the sprint, he was the man for me to watch. I also feared Gilbert and Pozzato who are fast finishers in small groups. I got on Bennati's wheel and won the sprint quite easily."

With a stage win under his belt, the third Vuelta victory of his career, Hushovd will once again turn his attention to helping teammate Theo Bos.

"When I came to the Vuelta, my first goal was to get back in race rhythm," said Hushovd. "The second goal was to win a stage. Now that it’s reached, I'm looking forward to the next opportunity but I don't know when it can be. I'm not going to contest the next bunch sprint because for now, I give a chance to help Theo Bos.

"I don't have any plan to go for breakaways like at the Tour de France where I sometimes do so for the green jersey. I don't think I'll use energy for nothing here. At the start of the Vuelta, the news about Cervélo closing the team was disturbing. Knowing now that my future is with Garmin-Cervélo has helped me to be mentally focused on today’s stage win."

Filippo Pozzato (Katusha) was a rider many favoured to win today, but the Italian could only manage fifth in the sprint following an escape attempt on the Cresta del Gallo descent. "I'm disappointed. I'm at the Vuelta for winning a stage and after I came this morning to reconnoitre the finale by car, I thought I'd make it today," said Pozzato.

"I tried to go clear on the downhill to exploit the good work of my teammates but it was a bit far away from the finish. In the final sprint, there were stronger guys than me and I was boxed in by Grega Bola. The fifth place isn’t what I was hoping for."

"We positioned Pozzato very well on Hushovd’s wheel with 1km to go," said Pozzato's teammate Aleksandr Kolobnev, the Russian road champion. "He was the man to beat. But sincerely, I didn't think that so many sprinters would still be up there after the climb where we set the pace pretty high. The surface of the road uphill was pretty bad. That didn't help the light riders but it was an advantage for the heavy ones."

Crunch time on the Cresta del Gallo

As usual, an early break escaped the peloton and spent most of the stage off the front. Markus Eichler (Milram), Juan Javier Estrada (Andalucia-Cajasur) and Freddy Bichot (BBOX Bouygues Telecom) comprised the day's escape and gained a maximum advantage of 9:17. The leading trio's lead, however, plummeted in the approach to the stage's only categorised climb, the Alto de la Cresta del Gallo with 17.4km remaining.

The break started the decisive climb with less than a minute's lead over a determined peloton, and their efforts throughout the stage left them with heavy legs on the ascent. Eichler cracked first, then Estrada, too, came to grief on the Cresta del Gallo. Bichot persevered alone on the front but he, too, was absorbed by the field approximately half way up the 7km climb.

With the day's break dispatched, Katusha set a steady pace up the narrow, winding ascent which reduced the peloton to approximately 50 riders. Vladimir Karpets (Katusha) crested the summit at the head of the lead group, setting up the first attack on the tricky descent.

Katusha teammate Filippo Pozzato made his move early on the descent and was immediately joined by race leader Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), but the duo were caught with 14km to go.

Dmitry Fofonov (Astana) countered immediately and soloed away on the latter portion of the descent. The Kazakhstan rider, however, faced a flat 10km run-in to the finish and was absorbed with 7.5km to go.

Katusha and Cervélo TestTeam kept a quick tempo at the front of the 71-rider strong peloton through to the finish for their respective fast men Pozzato and Thor Hushovd. The Norwegian champion proved too fast for his rivals in the field sprint as Hushovd stormed to victory in Murcia.

Full Results