Luis Leon Sanchez wins Pais Vasco opening stage

Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) won the opening stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco after a two-up sprint against Cofidis’ Daniel Navarro. Simon Gerrans (Orica GreenEdge) led the peloton home in third, at the same time.

Navarro and Sanchez slipped clear of the peloton in the closing stages with Navarro the first to attack on the final climb of the stage between Etxebarria and Markina-Xemein. On the descent, Sanchez’s reminded everyone of his skills, cutting through the corners perfectly as he provided Navarro with some much-needed ammunition as the peloton mustered a late charge.

The pair held a slender lead as they approached the flat run-in to the line and despite leading out the sprint Sanchez had enough in the tank to hold off Navarro for the win and the leader’s jersey.

Alberto Condador (Tinkoff) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) both watched each other throughout the undulating stage, with Contador making several accelerations on the final climb. The pair eventually finished safely in the main field.

The earlier part of the stage was marked by a three-man break consisting of Marcel Wyss (IAM Cycling), Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis).

The trio built up a moderate lead over the peloton but they were kept on the leash through a combination of Tinkoff and Orica-GreenEdge efforts.

With just under 35 kilometres to go Wyss was detached from the lead group and as the remaining duo hit the penultimate climb of Izua – with its 8.7 per cent pitches – the gap to the peloton dropped to less than 30 seconds.

The peloton, however, took their foot off the gas for the briefest of moments as they tackled the lower slopes and Astana’s Dario Cataldo took full advantage – first bridging up to the leaders before dragging a fading Edet with him.

The Cofidis rider held on for as long as he could but the Italian was in no mood to shelter passengers, as he pushed clear with 30km to go.

Behind him several small counter-attacking moves filtered back and forth off the front of the peloton with Philip Deignan (Team Sky) and Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL Jumbo) each part of separate moves.

Just before the summit of the final climb Contador made his first acceleration. For the majority of the ascent he had followed Quintana but the former Tour winner looked intent on testing his Movistar rival.

The Colombian was more than capable of following Contador’s first, second and third acceleration, as the rest of the pre-race GC contenders drew themselves back into the fray.

The increase in pace saw the end of Cataldo’s effort but just before the summit Navarro made his move. Once a teammate of Contador, the Spaniard impressively established a gap on the rest of the peloton. The descent was a nervous affair, with Navarro taking risks wherever he could but Sanchez made contact as the rest of the peloton regrouped.

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