Dutch climber edges closer to regaining the red jersey on a flat, sprinters’ stage
On what should have been a relaxing day for the overall contenders of the Vuelta a España, race leader Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) found himself losing precious seconds to some of his big rivals. Frederik Kessiakoff (Astana) and Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) were the only two riders in the top ten to finish in the same time as stage winner Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), both taking five seconds out of Wiggins.
A move from Mollema early in the stage though, also saw him pinch six seconds, gaining him a total of eleven on the stage.
"The finish was difficult in such a way that we did expect there to be some gaps,” explained Rabobank’s team director Erik Dekker. “Therefore Bauke was kept well in front. There was even the question whether Bauke would help Paul with his sprint, but we chose not to take any risks."
Rabobank’s German sprinter Martens finished eighth, while Mollema finished in thirteenth, and afterwards it was thought that perhaps the team should have gone through with the plan.
"He might have been a bit too far behind," said Dekker of the German. "It was also a finish for him. But the decision not to let Bauke ride in front of him was a good one."
“I’m surprised that none of the favourites followed Bauke,” Dekker explained. “11 seconds might not seem to be much but when you look at the general classification, the time gained is very important.
“The end of this week will be decisive for the final classification.”
The slightly audacious move at the start of the stage saw Mollema take first place in the intermediate sprint, which was just 7.2km into the stage. Having stifled an early breakaway with the help of the RadioShack team, Rabobank set up its leader to take the points on the line; more importantly though, the Dutchman took the six seconds on offer.
"It went uphill two kilometres before the sprint, after which there was one kilometre to where the sprint was," Dekker explained. "The team kept Bauke well in front going uphill and Paul Martens and Carlos Barredo took on the sprint. Nobody reacted, so that was good."
Having chosen to go after the sprint themselves, the Rabobank riders were surprised that none of the other overall contenders chose to do so.
"You can't let a chance like that go and six seconds is a lot to gain,” said Dekker. “So it's all good!"
Mollema is still in sixth position, where he was at the beginning of the stage, but has narrowed the gap to Wiggins from 47 to 36 seconds. With the race heading towards the steep mountains in the north of Spain, the Dutchman is nicely poised to aim at the red jersey that he wore for a day after stage nine.