Movistar's Enrique Sanz takes afternoon stage in sprint; Castroviejo stays in overall lead
Jonathan Castroviejo confirmed his prologue specialty when he took the opening 7.8 kilometers in the 2011 Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid. The Euskaltel-Euskadi rider clocked in at 10'11 and beat Rui Costa (Movistar) by 11 seconds and Stefan Schumacher (Miche) by 12 seconds. On the split day one, Enrique Sanz celebrated a bunch sprint win for the Movistar team in stage one. He bested Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Andalucia - Caja Granada) and Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Euskaltel-Euskadi). Castroviejo reached the finish with the bunch and remained in the overall lead by those 11 seconds.
Castroviejo made headlines in the recent Tour de Romandie when he took the prologue, but it seems the whole team has found its time trialing legs, with Ion Izagirre Insausti finishing seventh and his brother Gorka Izagirre eleventh. "The whole team has performed very well, I am very satisfied as much for the triumph as for the level demonstrated by all the guys," said the team's sports director Josu Larrazabal.
Of course mostly his eyes were on his new star for the races against the clock. "Jonathan did a spectacular time trial, in the last part he flew." Having the others perform well proved invaluable, just like in the Tour de Romandie. "In the first part he was up there and had times similar to the Izagirre brothers, who served as a point of reference for us."
Then Castroviejo put out all stops. "In the second part he really launched and, without risk, did an incredible job." Larrazabal was especially pleased with the witty riding of Castroviejo and how he measured himself during the course. "To make you aware how he went, you need to take into account that a specialist like Schumacher - who won the time trial in the Vuelta a Asturias - is the mountain's leader, because he crossed the small hill in the middle of the race as the fastest rider. Well, in the finish, Jonathan has taken 12 seconds off of him."
The prologue start was given at 10:00 am, an early time for a professional race. This was necessary due to the split stage, with a 85-kilometer circuit race waiting for the riders in the afternoon. In the prologue, the racers had to climb in the first part, with the category three Alto del Cerro Garabitas top coming after 4.1 kilometers.
Schumacher clocked the fastest time here, ahead of Castroviejo and Costa. But both Castroviejo and Costa were able to reverse the result on the descent back down to the finish in Casa de Campo, Madrid.
The first stage had four category three climbs, which couldn't prevent a bunch sprint. In each of the four 21km laps, riders had to climb the Alto Del Cristo De Rivas. The most active racers on the front were Colombian Walter Padraza, who took over the mountains jersey at the end of the day. He is four points ahead of Luis Mas Bonet. But the mountain goats were unable to stay away on the stage and prevent the dash to the line, taken by Sanz.
Lobato and his Andalucia Caja Granada team were a little unhappy with second place. "It is a pain that Lonado didn't win, as he did a spectacular sprint," sports director Antonio Cabello said. "We didn't miss much to victory, but the important thing is that we are there."
Results prologue
1. CASTROVIEJO NICOLAS Jonathan EUS 10'11"
2. COSTA Rui Alberto Faria MOV 11"
3. SCHUMACHER Stefan MIE 12"
4. MORENO BAZAN Javier CJR 16"
5. GUTIERREZ PALACIOS Jose Ivan MOV 22"
6. HERRADA LOPEZ Jesus MOV 22"
7. IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion EUS 22"
8. BROCO Hernani Manuel Conceiçao LAR 24"
9. REBELLIN Davide MIE 24" 0
10. SABIDO Hugo Manuel Madeira LAR 25"
Results stage 1
1. SANZ UNZUE Enrique MOV 1h52'45"
2. LOBATO DEL VALLE Juan Jose ACG
3. FERNANDEZ DE LARREA Koldo EUS
4. ANTON HERNANDEZ Igor EUS
5. FELLINE Fabio GEO
6. JULES Justin LPM
7. SANCHO Bruno Matos LAR
8. HERRADA LOPEZ Jesus MOV
9. DIAZ Daniel Ricardo LPM
GC after stage 1
1 CASTROVIEJO, Jonathan ESP EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI 00:10:11
2 COSTA, Rui POR MOVISTAR TEAM a 11
3 SCHUMACHER, Stefan GER MICHE GUERCIOTTI a 12
4 MORENO, Javier ESP CAJA RURAL a 16
5 GUTIERREZ, José I. ESP MOVISTAR TEAM a 22
6 HERRADA, Jesus ESP MOVISTAR TEAM a 22
7 IZAGUIRRE, Jon ESP EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI a 22
8 BROCO, Hernani POR LA -ANTARTE a 24
9 REBELLIN, Davide ITA MICHE GUERCIOTTI a 24
10 SABIDO, Hugo POR LA -ANTARTE a 25