Vuelta a España: Bouhanni wins in San Fernando

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FDJ.fr's Nacer Bouhanni moved into double figures for victories this season in impressive style on Sunday, as he claimed his win number 10 of 2014 with a finely timed bunch sprint triumph in the Vuelta a España's first mass-start during the second stage. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) moved into the red leader's jersey.

Bouhanni's rapidly rising status as a top sprinter had already been fully confirmed in 2014 thanks to his trio of Giro stage wins and points jersey. But at San Fernando in August four months later, he was in no mood to give his rivals any room for maneuver, either, gliding to the very front of the strungout pack behind his leadout man Geoffrey Soupe in the final kilometre then outpowering Germany’s John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) by over a bikelength.

“I had done well in the Eneco Tour, taking the only bunch sprint there, so I knew I was in good shape,” Bouhanni - who has signed for Cofidis after a controversial non-selection by current team FDJ.fr for the Tour this year - said afterwards.

"We worked very hard for this," he said. "The last moment we were in a great position. It's a great day for me and for my whole team. We have to take our chances when we can. Each time I have a chance to win, I will take it. Maybe I can win a couple stages. Maybe I will give myself the goal of taking the points jersey."

It had been no easy sprint, either. A fast final hour dash across the saltmarshes outside the provincial capital, Cadiz, had most of the favourites edging close to the front to try and stay out of trouble and avoid any echelons. Then even when the fears of crosswinds on the ultra-exposed route faded as they reached Cadiz satellite seaport of San Fernando, the road width and direction still changed constantly in the last kilometres.

There were, in fact, no splits and only one major crash - Trek Factory’s Fabio Felline coming off the worst, although he could continue - to contend with, but the tense racing made for a high-speed finale nonetheless. Bouhanni, though, had been perfectly at home in the no holds-barred bunch sprints of the Giro in May and the comparatively mild last kilometre sparring at the Vuelta five months later proved no problem to handle for the former boxer.

The earlier part of the day's racing had followed the unwritten script of a bunch sprint stage down to the final page, with a day-long break reeled in some 16 kilometres from the line before the sprinters teams upped the pace still further to ensure there were no last-minute attacks.

Garmin-Sharp’s Nathan Haas benefited the most from the lone day-long attack, clinching the first King of the Mountains jersey on the oddly named third category ascent of Alto de la Cabrito - the little goat’s climb - in the early kilometres. Haas then quickly dropped back, leaving Francisco Aramendia (Caja Rural), Jacques Van Rensburg, Valerio Conti (Lampre) and Romain Hardy (Cofidis) to gain five minutes advantage on the exposed coast road that first wound its way through Tarifa, Spain’s most southerly point and then northwestwards towards the finish at San Fernando.

Lampre had been best placed of the breakaways' respective squads in the team time trial, taking ninth. So Conti - bearing the number one dossard that indicated he was the last-minute replacement for defending champion and teammate Chris Horner - had the honour of being race leader on the road for several hours.

But team time trial winners Movistar had no intention of letting Conti or the break gain more than a symbolic advantage that could be easily flattened. And even if Valverde taking over as race leader from Movistar teammate Jonathan Castroviejo after stage 2 was unexpected, the rest of the day’s produced no surprises for the Spanish WorldTour squad.

Monday’s rolling stage and complex finale will be a harder affair altogether for Movistar, whilst for the sprinters opportunities are sparse in this year’s Vuelta. The next - perhaps - will come at Albacete on stage 8. However, in just one day, Bouhanni has already established that he is the fastman to beat.

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