Estonian takes Cofidis team’s second stage of the race; Katusha and Geox-TMC go on the offensive but Team Sky comes out on top
Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) took the French team’s second stage victory of the race, on the toughest mountaintop finish so far, at the top of La Farrapona, Lagos de Somiedo. The Estonian was part of the main break of the day, which escaped in the first five kilometres of the stage, then broke away with David De La Fuente (Geox-TMC) on the penultimate climb. The two riders held their advantage over a number of chasing groups behind them then, as De La Fuente sat up to wait for Geox-TMC team captain Juan Jose Cobo in the final two kilometres, Taaramäe continued to finish alone.
Having been paced for a while by De La Fuente, Cobo finished second, 25 seconds behind the Estonian, with his teammate following four seconds later.
“I intended to remain quiet but on the last attack, I followed the move and I thought that the peloton would follow as well,” said Taaramäe at the finish. “I looked behind and we were eighteen riders. It was the right breakaway and I was worried because I was afraid of not being able to make it till the end.
“Until 5km to go with De La Fuente, I thought we’d be caught,” he explained. “I was afraid of him, so I attacked with 2km to go. I don’t know if he waited for Cobo or if he cracked but at that stage, I was sure to be the winner.”
Behind the stage winner the big story was unfolding in the peloton behind, with race leader Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) and super-domestique Chris Froome putting the pressure on the other race contenders, where the opposite had been expected. After his rivals had exhausted their own teammates, Wiggins put Froome to work on the front, which dropped defending champion VIncenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard Trek).
Wiggins himself took over in the final kilometre and, as he has done in all of the mountaintop finishes of the race so far, increased the pace to further hurt the legs of his rivals. Wouter Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM) jumped away in the final metres, as he had done the day before, to take a few seconds and crossed the line 40 seconds behind Taaramäe, with Wiggins leading the rest over another five seconds back.
Wiggins and Froome occupy the top two positions in the overall classification once more, still seven seconds apart, with Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) moving into third, 36 seconds back. Cobo’s attack lifts him into fourth, just 55 seconds behind, with Fuglsang slipping to fifth at 58 seconds.
Another nasty mountaintop finish for the climbers to attack
The 172.8km between Astorga and La Farrapona, Lagos de Somiedo were to provide the third mountaintop finish of the race, and was expected to be the toughest so far.
The peloton would first have to cross the 2nd category Puerto de la Ventana, and the 1st categoty Puerto de San Lorenzo before the big climb to the finish, which has been described as the Mont Ventoux of the Asturias by Spanish sportspaper AS.
Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) reportedly had a special gear of 36x27 for the steep final climb, and was confident about being able to attack the race leaders on the way to the finish.
“This is a hard climb”, the Catalan from Katusha. “The race is going to be a mess. Today and tomorrow, it’s not impossible for me to recover the three minutes deficit I’ve got on GC.”
A big group goes again but containing nobody of any danger this time
For the second day in succession a large group got away, but this time none of the riders involved was any danger to those at the top of the overall classification.
The seventeen riders got away after just five kilometres, and was made of: Taaramäe and Yohan Bagot (both Cofidis), De La Fuente, Francesco Bellotti (Liquigas-Cannondale), Guillaume Bonnafond and Lloyd Mondory (both AG2R La Mondiale), Jose Alberto Benitez (Andalucia-Caja Granada), Karsten Kroon (BMC Racing), Iñaki Isasi and Jorge Azanza (both Euskaltel-Euskadi), Leigh Howard (HTC-Highroad), Aliaksandr Kuschynski and Eduard Vorganov (both Katusha), Daniele Righi (Lampre-ISD), Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank), Jonas Aaen Jörgensen (Saxo Bank-SunGard) and Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin-Cervélo).
Andalucia-Caja Granada and Cofidis were both represented, as on virtually every other day, while De La Fuente had managed to get himself in the move on the second stage in succession. Euskaltel-Euskadi had managed to get into the break in force once again, with Isasi and Azanza, and doubtless had a plan for new captain Mikel Nieve later in the stage.
Also with two in the move were Katusha who, since the previous stage, had Daniel Moreno in ninth overall, as well as the irrepressible Joaquim Rodriguez who still had ambitions to rise up the classification.
The Movistar, Skil-Shimano and Quick Step teams were leading the peloton but the group’s lead grew steadily. By the time the leaders passed through the feedzone after 89.2km their advantage was up to more than eight minutes but, as it continued to rise, Katusha joined Team Sky at the front and the gap slowly began to reduce.
Over the top of the Puerto de la Ventana, after 111.1km, the gap had reduced to 5’29”, and it was nearing the four-minute mark as the race descended to the foot of the Puerto de San Lorenzo.
On the way down though, Vanmarke and Kroon crashed as they left the road on a bend and fell into a ravine. Thankfully neither rider fell far as the ravine was filled with trees and bushes, and both were able to remount and continue. Kroon was only able to ride a few more kilometres though, before being forced to abandon.
The break breaks up as the real climbing kicks in
With 40km to go, the gap was just below three minutes and, as a number of riders began to tail off the group, the attacks from the peloton began.
Movistar pair Beñat Intxausti leading Marzio Bruseghin were the first to successfully get clear, and were allowed to go. The Italian was in 15th place at the start of the day, just 2’22” behind Wiggins, but the British champion appeared not to be immediately concerned.
Up ahead, with 5km still to climb, Taaramäe went alone and was pursued by De La Fuente; the rest of the break began to disintegrate as the two of them got together a few hundred metres further.
Garmin-Cervélo and Leopard Trek were now leading peloton along with Katusha, both having lost their man from the break. Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) was now driving the pace, causing a number of riders to tail off the back of the peloton
With 36km to go Moreno attacked and rode up towards the breakaways; after a few minutes he caught up with teammate Kuschynski, who began to pace his team leader up the climb.
Liquigas-Cannondale took over the pacemaking, with the peloton now reduced to less than thirty riders. There was a brief attack from Rodriguez, who pulled a few riders clear, but it was neutralised by Liquigas-Cannondale and Leopard Trek, who were both still present in force.
Katusha and Movistar seem to have the stage under control as they send thei strong men up the road
Taaramäe led the race over the top of the climb, with De La Fuente just behind him, the remains of the breakaway group followed them over, with the Movistar duo behind them. Moreno crossed the top 2’21” back, having used all the energy that Kush had to offer, and set about chasing the breakaway riders ahead.
The Katusha rider soon caught the Movistar duo, and was now with teammate Vorganov in a group that was 30 seconds ahead of the peloton. With the Russian on the front, the new group began to reel in the two up front, but Euskaltel-Euskadi and Rabobank were on the front of the peloton now and chasing hard.
Taaramäe and De La Fuente were 1’30” ahead of the Moreno group as they passed over the intermediate sprint line in Castro with 20.8km to go. The descent was over now, and they had four kilometres of false flat to cover before the final climb began.
The Moreno group was now expanding as it caught up with stragglers from the earlier break, including Bonnafond, Mondory and Isasi. They were 57 seconds behind as the climb began and the peloton was a similar distance behind, but closing.
As Intxausti dropped away, Bruseghin began leading the chase group, and with 12km to go there was one minute between each of the groups as Taaramäe and De La Fuente began to pull away again.
Liquigas-Cannondale was now leading the peloton once more; Wiggins was safely tucked, close to the front, but now only had Froome for company.
The peloton is gaining and Wiggins makes it tough for the climbers
At the 10km banner the Bruseghin-led chasers were just 57 seconds behind, as sprinter Mondory was having trouble staying with the pace. The gap was the same with seven kilometres to go, but the peloton was now just 13 seconds behind.
The peloton caught the Moreno/Bruseghin group just after the 6km banner, and Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi), wearing the red number as the most aggressive rider of the previous day, attacked and was allowed to go.
With 5km to go Txurruka was 58 seconds behind the leading pair, with the peloton at 1’12”. The previous day’s second place Eros Capecchi was now leading the peloton for Liquigas-Cannondale but, with De La Fuente and Taaramäe sharing the work up front, they were making little progress.
As the ever-shrinking peloton passed under the four-kilometre banner Moreno attacked again; Cobo jumped across to the Katusha rider and went right by, then quickly caught Txurruka and dropped him too.
Under the three-kilometre banner up ahead, De La Fuente appeared to be hesitating with his teammate on the way up, just 45 seconds behind.
At this point Wiggins sent Froome forward, and the Kenyan-born Briton’s pace had the almost immediate effect of dropping many of the favourites, including Nibali and Rodriguez. Both riders were expected to be putting pressure on Wiggins on this stage, but both were coming up short in the face of the British champion’s teammate.
Taaramäe goes alone as De La Fuente plays the team game
With around 2.5km to go De La Fuente let Taaramäe go and slowed down to wait for Cobo and, as he passed the two-kilometre banner, the Estonian had opened up a twenty-second gap.
The next riders to be dropped from the peloton were Moreno and Monfort. The group was now reduced to just Froome, Wiggins, Mollema, Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Sergio Pardilla (Movistar), Poels, Nieve and Denis Menchov (Geox-TMC) as the race leader took over the pacesetting inside the final kilometre and a half.
There were now 24 seconds between all three groups as De La Fuente buried himself for Cobo in an effort to catch up with Taaramäe once more.
As he passed under the flamme rouge, marking the final kilometre, the Estonian was still 23 seconds ahead of the two Geox-TMC riders, with the Wiggins led group at 52 seconds. Cobo finally went alone, with De La Fuente spent, but Taaramäe was fast approaching the finish line as the road began to level out.
Taaramäe crossed the line alone to take his first ever victory in a Grand Tour, and the second for Cofidis team’s second in four days. Cobo sprinted all the way to the line, crossing 25 seconds later, with De La Fuente finishing nine seconds later.
Just as he had done the day before, Poels sprinted away from the leaders’ group to steal a few seconds, and Wiggins led Froome, Mollema and Menchov over just 45 seconds behind Taaramäe.
The big losers on the day were Fuglsang, who lost 39 seconds to Wiggins, Frederik Kessiakoff (Astana), who lost 1’14”, and Nibali, who lost 1’21”. The defending champion slipped from second overall, just four seconds behind Wiggins, to seventh, 1’25” down.