Michael Albasini (GreenEDGE) surprised the rest of the very select group of riders to take the second stage of the Volta a Catalunya, starting and finishing in the city of Girona. The Swiss rider, wearing the white and green leader’s jersey after taking the previous day’s stage victory, jumped away from the pack as they approached the finish line, and managed to open up a decisive gap that the sprinting group was unable to close.
Just on Albasini’s wheel as he hit the line was Dario Cataldo (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), who outsprinted Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) in the dash for the line. A second victory for Albasini means that the GreenEDGE rider keeps his overall lead in the race, although the victory carries no time bonuses.
"It was fantastic to win yesterday and have the leader's jersey today," said Albasini. "To win a stage in the jersey is a good feeling. I'm happy to pay back my teammates with one more victory after they worked so hard for me the whole day."
The rolling 161km stage saved its toughest part to the very end, with the 1st category Alt dels Angels coming just 13.7km from the end. Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) escaped on the descent, along with Dan Martin (Garmin-Barracuda) and Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil-DCM); the trio were just a few seconds ahead of the splintered peloton as they approached the finish however, and were hunted down by Team Sky - led by Paris-Nice winner Bradley Wiggins - as they approached the final kilometre.
A breakaway gets away and Valverde gets a taste of his own medicine
The break of the day former after just 11km, as Jordi Simon (Andalucía), Julian Sánchez (Caja Rural) et Cyril Bessy (Saur-Sojasun) escaped. Just six kilometres later, as Sánchez led them over the intermediate sprint at Banyoles, the three riders were already two minutes clear, and managed to open up a maximum of 7’12” by kilometre 33.
With the knowledge that Albasini’s race lead had come from a little complacency in the peloton in the previous stage, GreenEDGE then began to close down the breakaway trio.
As they hit the feedzone after 100km, with 61km still to race, the leaders were just two minutes ahead. Disaster struck here for one of the race’s hot contenders though, as Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) came down hard in a crash.
“Just as we were heading out of the feedzone, there was a bottle on the road, the front wheel got over it and I crashed on my right side against a kerb,” he explained afterwards. “It was practically an inevitable crash.”
As well as the discomfort of his crash injuries however, Valverde now also had the problem of fighting his way back on to an accelerating peloton. Just as Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Levi Leipheimer had found Movistar increasing the pace after his crash in the penultimate stage of Paris-Nice a little over a week before, Valverde now found himself behind the peloton as the American’s team was beginning to pull hard on the front.
This meant that the the gap to the three breakaway riders shrank much more quickly than before and they were recaptured after 199km, with three kilometres still to climb to the top of the 3rd category Alt de la Ganga.
The peloton continued to split on the climb, with Valverde’s group some 25 seconds behind as the front group rode over the top of the climb with 37km to go. This began to increase on the descent and, as the race arrived at the foot of the Alt des Angels it was up to 50 seconds; despite a chase from Valverde himself on the way up, he was 1’20” behind at the top, with only 13.7km to go.
Some big names try and get away but the climbers get to sprint it out
The twisting descent quickly saw Cunego, Martin and Carrara break free, but they were only ten seconds clear as they hit the flat run to the line with 4km to go. Despite the three of them working hard together, they were unable to resist the chase of Team Sky, with Wiggins’ British champion’s jersey doing the lion’s share on behalf of Uran.
The peloton - which now numbered just 31 riders - was all together as they arrived inside the final kilometre, and was heading for a sprint. Inside the last few hundred metres though, Albasini made his move on the opposite side of the road and took everybody by surprise with his sudden attack.
"I went so hard on the uphill, and I knew there were no pure sprinters left," he said. "I thought this made me one of the fastest in the small bunch. I suffered a lot on the last climb, so I wasn't sure if my legs were fresh for the sprint. I thought Cataldo would be one of the fastest guys, so I went on his wheel. When he moved up, I followed, and in the end, he gave me the perfect leadout. The sprint could not have gone better for me."
Valverde eventually crossed the line in 64th place, at the head of a group some 2’09” behind Albasini, his race over. Also missing from the front group were Albasini’s companions from the stage one break, meaning that he now leads the other thirty riders from the front group of stage two by 1’32” with Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) at their head thanks to his finishing positions so far.