Chris Froome (Team Sky) has become the first Kenyan-born rider to wear the leader’s jersey of the Vuelta a España, following a powerful second place in the 47km Salamanca time trial. The 26-year-old, who has raced as a British rider since mid-2008, finished just 59 seconds behind stage winner Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad), moving himself from 14th to first in the overall classification.
"It’s not really sunk in yet, it’s still a bit unreal,” said Froome at the finish. “I didn’t expect to do that today. I thought maybe I’d try and stay in contention or at least be up there close to Bradley but never expected this.
"I'm over the moon,” he added. “I think I just had a fantastic day and somehow I've ended up in the leader's jersey; it's a dream come true.”
"I think it was the updates from Sports Director Marcus Ljungqvist on the radio which kept me going,” Froome explained. ‘To be honest I felt pretty rough out there; I was hurting from yesterday’s effort and just felt like I wasn’t really going that fast.
"What really helped was Marcus in the team car edging me on, saying ‘you’re doing great’, ‘you’ve got a really good time’, ‘just keep going like you are’ and so on. It was fantastic to have that information and encouragement; at least I knew I wasn’t doing too badly!”
Froome’s Sky teammate Bradley Wiggins was a second faster than Martin at the first checkpoint, but faded steadily into the second half of the stage to finish in third place, 1’22” behind the German’s time of 55’54”. The British champion, who will lose his title as he will miss next weekend’s championships, moves up to third in the overall classification behind Jakob Fuglsang, who lost 1’37” to Martin.
Race leader Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) finished 3’09” behind Martin, losing 1’47” to Wiggins, despite catching Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) for two minutes with 10km to go. The Spaniard finished 5’24” down, and drops out of contention for the overall race in Madrid on September 11th.
Defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) finished in 15th place, 2’24” down, losing just under a minute to Wiggins and dropping to fourth overall.
The early pace on the stage was set by 21-year-old American Taylor Phinney, who finished in 57’27” after starting third. His time was beaten half an hour later by World champion Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek), who was fastest at all the checkpoints to post a time of 57’21”, just six seconds quicker.
Cancellara’s time was to last less than forty minutes at the top though, as Martin took 1’27” out of the Swiss rider’s time.
The only individual time trial of the race gives the strong men a chance against the climbers
Stage ten was to provide the only individual kilometres against the clock in the 2011 Vuelta a España. The 47km course, which headed south out of the city of Salamanca before returning north on another, would be the one chance in the race for the strong men to put time into the climbers, who had had their way so far.
Maxime Monfort (Leopard Trek) found himself nudged out of the top ten on the climb to La Covatilla. He, and teammate, Jakob Fuglsang both lost time to Mollema on the steep slopes to the finish, but the flat roads south of Salamanca should allow them to take some back.
“This time trial will favour us, Jakob Fuglsang and myself, compared to the climbers,” said Monfort before the start. “It should help us to be well positioned on GC. Usually, Jakob beats me by 20 seconds in time trials. If it’s the case again today, I’ll be satisfied.”
German champion Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) was, like many other riders, riding the Vuelta a España in preparation for the World championships in Copenhagen. While most others were aiming for the road race though, Martin was there to hone his form for the race against the clock.
“I’ve more or less come to the Vuelta because of this time trial,” the German confirmed.
The first finisher sets a tough time to beat
Lanterne rouge Nick Nuyens (Saxo Bank-SunGard), who has been struggling through the race ever since his crash in the stage one team time trial, was the first to start; but he was not the first to finish. Third last in the overall classification was Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) and the under-23 World champion overtook first Aleksejs Saramotins (Cofidis) for one minute, then Nuyens for two to cross the line first with a time of 57’27”.
Phinney’s time was to prove tough for any of the others at the wrong end of the classification to get anywhere near. Stage nine breakaway rider Martijn Keizer (Vacansolei-DCM) got closest, but he was still 2’07” behind.
It took the power of the World champion to knock Phinney off the top, exactly thirty riders behind him. Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) was 21 seconds faster than the young American at the first checkpoint after 13.3km. Phinney’s progressive ride was paying off though, and the Swiss rider’s lead was just six seconds after 30km, where it was to stay until the finish.
Cancellara’s time of 57’21” was to hold slightly longer than Phinney’s as Martin was off 39 riders behind him. The German was immediately eclipsing the World champion’s time after 13.3km, 42 seconds ahead; at 30km the lead had stretched to 1’12”, which was 1’27” at the finish.
If Martin was to take the World title in Copenhagen after the Vuelta, the Swiss reigning champion would be the man to beat.
The later starters battle for the classification
Martin’s time of 55’54” was to go untroubled for some time as none of the riders in the latter half of the overall classification could get close to the time trial class of the German champion.
RadioShack pair Tiago Machado and Janez Brajkovic were the first to even look like challenging Martin, passing through the first checkpoint 19 and 14 seconds behind respectively. They were 51 and 50 seconds down at the 30km point, but both faded equally in the closing 17 kilometres, with Machado finshing 1’54” behind, and Brajkovic at 1’56”.
Fourteen riders from the end Froome took his start. The Kenyan-born Briton was only slightly slower than Machado and Brajkovic – at 23 seconds – after 13.3km. Froome had timed his effort better than the two RadioShack riders though, and was still just 29 seconds behind Martin after 30km. At the finish Froome was 59 seconds down, but vastly outperforming most of the other riders at the top end of the standings.
Wiggins, two riders behind Froome, crossed the 13.3km checkpoint in 16’26”, a second faster than Martin. The British champion was unable to sustain his pace though, and his one-second advantage had turned into a 19-second disadvantage at 30km. By the time Wiggins reached the finish line he was 1’22” behind, in third place, and 23 seconds behind teammate Froome.
Jakob Fuglsang suffered an immediate problem at the star when he had problems with his chain, which seemed to have shifted into the small chainring. The Dane recovered to pass through the first check, just 25 seconds slower than Martin – and just one behind teammate Monfort. By the time he reached the finish Fuglsang was just 1’37” down on Martin; 38 seconds behind Froome.
Of the top three riders in the race so far, neither was an outstanding time triallist, but third placed Vincenzo Nibali was by far the best. The defending champion rode a steady, yet unspectacular stage, thankfully without the bike change drama of the equivalent stage of the equivalent 2010 stage, to finish just 2’24” behind Martin.
Nibali’s time of 58’18” was little more than a minute behind the specialists in the top of the standings in Fuglsang, Wiggins and Froome, keeping him well in contention for the final red jersey.
Behind Nibali though, Mollema and Rodriguez were putting in far less convincing performances.
Mollema, dressed all in red as race leader, was 1’58” behind Martin at the 30km checkpoint, but he still managed to catch Rodriguez for two minutes as they both arrived at the 10km to go banner. The Spaniard stayed close to the Dutchman for two kilometres, in a position that could have seen him penalised for drafting, but was forced to let him go eventually.
Mollema crossed the line in 59’03” was 3’09” down on Martin, and around two minutes down on the best overall contenders. It was also good enough to keep the Dutchman inside the top ten, 1’07” behind Froome.
Rodriguez however, finished in 1’01’18”, 5’24” behind Martin, dropping him to 14th overall, 3’23” behind Froome and effectively ending his hopes of winning the race overall.
Froome now leads Fuglsand by 12 seconds, with Wiggins at 20 seconds. Nibali is still ominously placed in fourth place though, just 31 seconds down.