Vuelta a Andalucia - Stages One and Two
The Casson Dairy team mentioned in the post above.
Other prominent starters: Vladimir Efimkin, Joaquin Rodriguez (Caisse d'Epargne), Mikel Astarloza, Iñigo Landaluze, Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel), Tadej Valjavec, Allesandro Ballan (Lampre), Axel Merckx, Giuseppe Guerini (T-Mobile), Angel Vicioso, Oscar Sevilla (Relax - Gam), Juan Garate, Dmitry Grabovskyy (QuickStep), Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank), David de la Fuente (Saunier Duval)
In other words, a very solid start field. Nine ProTour teams.
Stage One: Otura - La Zubia, 163 km
Attacks were rampant throughout the stage, but the pack always held a high pace and kept coming back to the escape attempts.
Dwyer,
Walsh and
Txurruka all attempted to go. However,
Walsh got loose on the third mountain point climb, and though they were nearly caught at the bottom of the last 9 %-climb, of 3 km, he attempted another attack from the group to earn points for the mountain jersey. In response, an eight-man group formed from the pack to chase down
Walsh, but they failed to cooperate and were quickly caught again.
By the bottom of the final serious climb,
Walsh had 50 seconds on Serrano, and 2'30 on a 40-man peloton. However, the long flat sections worked to the peloton's advantage, and
Walsh was caught with 18 km to go.
Then
Voigt began working. He had been comparatively defended all day, but set up a huge pace on the final hill finish, leading the way for the hill sprint.
However, there were no true sprinters in the group, and those who were got mauled by
Voigt's uphill pace. With 1 km to go, he led out the sprint.
Then,
Voigt graciously left the way for
Dwyer to attack from his wheel to eke ahead and take victory.
Vasseur completed the dominance by taking third.
Stage results:
1 Chris Dwyer TEAM CASSON DAIRY 4h15'49
2 Jens Voigt TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
3 Cédric Vasseur TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
4 Ezequiel Mosquera KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
5 Isidro Nozal KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
8 Håkon Mørk TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
36 Amets Txurruka TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
36 riders in same time
38 Craig Walsh TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 44
68 Steffen Wesemann TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 4'14
Stage Two: Vegas del Genil - Cazorla 174 km
A constantly undulating route, at least from 67 km onwards - the first climb at 15km should take care of most. No real long mountains though.
Four men got into the early break for mountain points, but the team was backed to chase them down. They got a lead of 11 minutes before we decided to play serious business; however, reeling them in was tough work, and when Caruso (Lampre), Benitez and Sanchez Gil attacked things got even worse. A quick pace increase was needed, but that took the strength of most helpers, and only
Voigt, Dwyer and Walsh remained in the leading group with 51 km to go.
An attack before the next mountain sprint gave Sánchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel) a gap, along with Efimkin and Van Huffel, very dangerous riders. However, Casson Dairy needed a rest, and eventually they needed to bridge a minute on the final climb.
A well-timed attack was needed to catch the breakaway, but it was the hosting teams who initiated it. Vicioso of Relax was first to go, and was followed by nearly everyone in the field, including
Dwyer who ended up in a group of six over the final climb.
Dwyer, in yellow, behind Flecha (orange) and Castaño (light blue)
The six-man group that eventually got loose included our old friend from Etoile de Bessèges Axel Merckx, Carlos Castaño (Karpin Galicia), Juan Gárate (Quick Step), Vicioso and Sánchez González.
Descending to Cazorla
However, Sánchez, Vicioso and Castaño were spent from their early efforts, leaving a trio in the lead as they entered final kilometre.
Dwyer kept his cool, attacked from the wheel of Gárate, and could celebrate another win and another day in yellow.
Stage results:
1 Chris Dwyer TEAM CASSON DAIRY 4h32'29
2 Juan Manuel Gárate QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
3 Axel Merckx T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
4 Angel Vicioso RELAX - GAM s.t.
5 Carlos Castaño KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
20 Jens Voigt TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 1'12
21 Craig Walsh TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
39 Steffen Wesemann TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 6'00
40 Cédric Vasseur TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
48 Håkon Mørk TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
55 Amets Txurruka TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
General classification:
1 Chris Dwyer TEAM CASSON DAIRY 8h47'38
2 Juan Manuel Gárate QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC + 28
3 Axel Merckx T-MOBILE TEAM + 32
4 Angel Vicioso RELAX - GAM + 40
5 Carlos Castaño KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
8 Jens Voigt TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 1'40
21 Craig Walsh TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 2'30
35 Cédric Vasseur TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 6'32
36 Håkon Mørk TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 6'40
38 Amets Txurruka TEAM CASSON DAIRY s.t.
51 Steffen Wesemann TEAM CASSON DAIRY + 10'54
Points classification:
1 Chris Dwyer TEAM CASSON DAIRY 50
2 Juan Manuel Gárate QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 20
3 Jens Voigt TEAM CASSON DAIRY 20
Mountain classification:
1 Francisco José Terciado RELAX - GAM 44
2 Mauro Facci QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 36
3 Denis Robin AGRITUBEL 24
6 Craig Walsh TEAM CASSON DAIRY 14
Happy happy, joy joy!
