As expected, wildcard team Andalucia-Caja Granada sent a rider on the attack during today’s first road stage at the Vuelta a España, and the veteran rider Jesus Rosendo picked up the first combined jersey of the race as a reward. The Spaniard went away with Paul Martens (Rabobank), Adam Hansen (Omega Pharma-Lotto), and Steve Houanard (Ag2R La Mondiale) three kilometers into the scorching 171-kilometer day.
Rosendo originally targeted the only mountain points available on the stage, but when he was out-duelled by Martens for those, he grabbed both intermediate sprints instead. The 29-year-old is in his fifth season as a professional, all of them spent with the Andalucia squad. He started the Vuelta in each of his first three seasons, when the team was operating under the name Andalucia CajaSur, though he has yet to crack the top one hundred in the overall standings.
When asked about today’s breakaway, Rosendo got right to the point. “The truth is, it was a difficult stage,” he admitted. After an early category three climb, the road flattened out before some lumps in the last kilometers, the final of which disrupted the sprinters. Christopher Sutton (Sky Procycling) took the stage.
“It was difficult, but we tried. I searched for the mountain points, and then the intermediate sprints,” Rosendo explained.
As one of two Spanish professional continental teams in the race, and without a natural team leader, more Andalucia-Caja Granada riders are expected to be flying off the front of the peloton in the coming days. Rosendo indicated that he is keen to show off the traditional white combined jersey.
“Getting the jersey for aggression has been a joy for the team,” he asserted after stage two. “[Making it onto] the podium is good. It’s what we have to do. Tomorrow, we’ll try again, and it could be any of us.”
Though the team finished last in yesterday’s team time trial, the squad hit the line with their entire team together, as if they were saving their energy for the efforts to come. Team director Antonio Cabello vows they will not lose their fighting spirit throughout the three-week race.
“We have been there, fighting from the beginning, and we have proven just as combative as ever,” he stated. “We got into the first major breakaway and we made it onto the podium thanks to the intermediate sprints.”
“It was a good day,” Cabello concluded. “It’s too bad the break couldn’t stay away, but the peloton had a lot of riders interested in the sprint. It was predictable. But we will keep trying.”