Euskaltel-Euskadi's Mikel Landa quickly made the best of a faltering team strategy in the final stage of the Vuelta a Burgos. With team captain Samuel Sanchez cracking, the overall was gone fore the Basque team, so Landa escaped for the stage victory, his first win as a professional. Joaquim Rodriguez also struggled towards the end, but held on to his overall lead. Jose Juan Cobo moved up onto the final podium, with a fine second place on the mountaintop finish on the Lagunas de Neila.
The whole Euskaltel-Euskadi had been riding for Sanchez so that the 2008 Olympic Champion could make up his 21-second deficit against 'Purito' Rodriguez in the overall. Landa didn't miss a beat when Sanchez started to leave a gap with two kilometers to go and quickly put in a brutal acceleration. "I was going very well today, whereas Samuel was not," Landa said to Spanish TV at the finish.
He had built a lead of a hundred meters, but Rodriguez and Cobo managed to get back with less than 500 meters to go. "I just tried to recuperate and then do a rapid sprint," Landa explained. Rodriguez was struggling on the steep final switchbacks, but with the overall win in the bag he could afford to not kill himself.
Landa then surprised Cobo with a strong acceleration just before the final 180-degrees turn, less than 200 meters from the line. Cobo tried hard but never managed to get back into Landa's slipstream, who stormed from the right hand side of the road into the very left on that final left hand bend, sprinting up the hill.
Landa described the whole day as being good for Euskaltel-Euskadi. "We worked very hard from the first mountain and when I took over at the final climb, I had a good rhythm."
The rhythm was indeed strong - too strong for his captain, Sanchez, Too strong also for Rodriguez and eventually for Cobo as well. "We were going fast. It was impressive work by Landa," Cobo said.
Cobo did not have to look out for a captain like Denis Menchov today. "I had a bit of freedom to get a result," he said after finishing third overall. "It is a sign that I am going well."
Euskaltel-Euskadi dominates the day
With 11 riders within a minute in the overall, a break was hard to initiate. At the first sprint after 26km, everything was still together. Jordi Simón (Caja Rural) was ahead of Jesús Rosendo (Andalucía) and Danilo Napolitano (Acqua e Sapone).
It took 40 kilometers until four riders, Juan José Oroz (Euskaltel), Jose Luis Roldán (Andalucía), Víctor Cabedo (Orbea) and Cyril Bessy (Saur), were allowed some leeway (half a minute). The quartet extended it to 5'30 at kilometer 60, the maximum gap they were able to get.
At the first climb of the day, the Alto de Collado at km 97, the gap was down to 4'20. Roldán was first at the top, ahead of Cabedo, Bessy and and Oroz. The sprint at kilometer 108 was taken by Cabedo, in front of Bessy and Roldán, with the peloton at 3'46,
Bessy took off at the second climb of the day, but the fast pace set by Euskaltel-Euskadi was too much for Bessy, who was caught with a little more than 30km to go. With the categorie one Alto de Pasil de Rozaviento coming up, most riders had to surrender to the fast pace set at the front. Only ten riders stayed together over the top, although several riders managed to catch up on the descent.
Euskaltel continued to push the pace, team trialing up and down the Collado as the fourth climb of the day. The final ascent had to bring the decision and with riders dropping quickly, only six men remained in the front group: Landa, Sanchez, Cobo, Rodriguez, Daniel Moreno and Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur Sojasun)
Landa pulled hard for Sanchez and with two kilometers to go, it was apparent that Sanchez wasn't going well. Landa pulled ahead a few meters and Rodriguez passed Sanchez. Landa, realizing that it was his to take the stage, put in a small acceleration and quickly had a gap of around 100 meters. At first it was unclear if it was a tactical game by Euskaltel to take the stage, but Sanchez quickly dropped back.
While Landa was caught by Cobo and Rodriguez, he had enough left to take the stage.