Alejandro Valverde marked his return to professional cycling when he showed the peloton a clean pair of cleats to win stage five of the Santos Tour Down Under. Valverde was challenged to the line by GreenEdge’s Simon Gerrans but outfoxed the Australian champion to pick up his first win since returning this January from a doping suspension.
He beat him by half a wheel, with Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan) two seconds further back and Canberra's Michael Rogers (Sky Procycling) taking fourth, a further two seconds behind.
“It’s been an [excess of] emotions, being able to show off all the fury I was keeping inside... I couldn’t resist tears at the finish,” a clearly emotional Valverde said. “From a sentimental value, I’d say this is the most special victory in my career. There’s been hard months of training at home, taking care of myself with no competition... and you remember all of that. This victory is dedicated to all the team, because they supported me 100%, and especially to Xavi Tondo. Also to all those ones who were always on my side. They know who they are. For my wife, my kids, my family.”
The victory comes a day after the first year anniversary of Xavi Tondo’s time trial victory in the Vuelta de San Luis, a win which was Movistar’s first triumph for its new sponsor. Sadly the Spaniard would go on to lose his life later in the year in a freak accident.
This year the traditional Old Willunga Hill stage was spiced up a summit finish at the top, the riders giving everything on the last of two ascents. Movistar did a large portion of the work throughout the stage, trying to set things up for Valverde. In the finale Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek) and Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) slipped off the front with Michael Rogers (Sky) trying to bridge across to them. However the Spanish team again kept everything under control with Javi Moreno leading Valverde out in the final kilometres. Gerrans was the only one able to stay with Valverde and looked to have the early jump on him, but the Movistar captain came back with a perfectly timed sprint.
“I was anxious to come back racing and also looking forward to getting my first win,” Valverde said. “More than the pressure from the crowd, it was pressure from myself to get back to winning ways. I knew I was strong, but needed to see myself back up-front, and in this race I found myself better and more relaxed each day. This victory gives me total tranquillity in this sense. I was desperately awaiting it and I got it on the first real opportunity I had, so it tastes so good.”
Gerrans gained the leaders ochre jersey on count back as he and Valverde are equal on time going into Sunday’s final stage. It will be a 90km circuit race with bonus seconds available during the stage and at the finish. The overall result is still wide open, but he sounds confident.
“One thing we’ve got is lots of experience in these sort of stages in the team so that’s definitely to my advantage,” said Gerrans in a post race interview. “Obviously Valverde is in fantastic condition but he’s got a team of climbers around him along with [Jose] Rojas. But the likes of Gossy, Stuey, Leigh Howard, Robbie, I couldn’t ask for more experience when it comes to a stage like tomorrow’s. I think we’re in a pretty good position.”
It’s also a nice turnaround after the team struggled to have a major impact on the results this week. It’s ridden well, but up until today it was being outshone on home soil by other squads. GreenEdge has now turned things around and if it can hold on tomorrow and cement a Gerrans win, its first major race will mark a perfect start.
Early move pushes ahead:
Gerrans’ team-mate Stuart O'Grady got clear with five others early on, the break racing clear soon after the start in McLaren Vale. Also present were Belgians Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM), and Kristof Goddaert (AG2R La Mondiale), British rider Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma - Lotto), Australian neo-pro Nathan Haas (Garmin-Barracuda) and Takashi Miyazawa (Saxo Bank) of Japan.
The riders faced three laps of an initial circuit, then two final circuits which brought the race twice up Old Willunga Hill.
Opening a big early lead, the move was clear for both Jayco intermediate sprints. Goddaert was first to the line at Snapper Point (km 63.4) and De Gendt picked up the second gallop, 40 kilometres later. The riders worked hard to try to stay clear, but all bar Haas were caught by the first ascent of Old Willunga Hill. The latter continued onwards, but would be reeled in on the descent.
Still, he knew he gave it everything in his first WorldTour race. “I thought my team mates are in that group [the peloton] so I thought moving out in front just gave them a sit on and it would put some pressure on the legs of the other teams. I did that, but unfortunately two of our riders got dropped. In the end it was only Jack Bauer.”
Fatigue meant that he expected to be hauled back. “It was inevitable,” he admitted. “I knew that I didn't have the legs to make up the climb the second time.”
Pressure being put on in the bunch shattered the group and ensured that tipped riders such as last year’s overall winner Cameron Meyer (GreenEdge) and former road race champion Matthew Lloyd (Lampre-ISD) missed out. A select group of approximately twenty riders were left out front, and knew that the stage winner would come out of this group.
Final battle wages on Old Willunga Hill:
At the start of the final ascent Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia), Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan), José Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar) and Danny Pate (Sky Procycling) clipped away and pushed forward. Of those, Dennis and Machado pushed forward, but were caught inside the final kilometre. Rogers then kicked clear, only to be contained by Moreno.
Gerrans seized his chance and accelerated hard towards the line, but Valverde managed to get past him and grab the first win of the second part of his career.
Machado and Rogers were third and fourth, with Dennis ending up fifth on the stage and holding his lead in the Skoda King of the Mountains. “The only way to do it is to put yourself in the race,” he said. “I'm a little bit stuffed now but it’s all worth it in the end. I guess sometimes you need a little bit of form as well to have that confidence to actually go up the front, but sometimes it's just sort of a gut feeling, just ‘hope for the best’.”
He’s had an aggressive race and finishing five seconds clear of sixth-placed Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) on the stage sees him end the day the same margin clear in the best young rider standings.
The latter had hoped to fight for the stage, but couldn’t match Valverde and Gerrans. He dropped twelve seconds to them and is now eighteen seconds back overall.
“My team did a great job and I managed to get up the climb first time so I felt really good,” he said afterwards. “(The second time) was really hard for me. We managed to get over the top, so I'm so happy and the team did a great job today.”
He’s now eleven points clear of double stage winner Andre Greipel in the Jayco Sprints Classification.
Team-mate Rogers is now best-placed Sky Procycling rider in the overall standings, 14 seconds off the ochre jersey. “The whole hill was pretty tough and there was strong head wind,” he said. “The goal was to get everything out and scrape the bottom of barrel. I did that and I'm really happy.
“I jumped with 400 metres to go and Valverde and Gerrans got on my wheel and went when I blew. But I am really happy…it's been a long time since I have been able to scrape the bottom of the barrel. It's a win for myself and I am really happy.”
The race concludes tomorrow with a 90 kilometre circuit race in Elder Park in Adelaide. Taking in 20 laps, it will offer time bonuses in the two Jayco intermediate sprints plus the final gallop to the line. The race is on a knife-edge and an aggressive finale is guaranteed.