Echelons formed out of Barakaldo, Froome turned killer, Valverde was ambushed, the podium shook itself into shape early and a nice guy won. If that sounds exciting – it was.
The Vuelta may only be four stages old, but it’s shaping up to be one cracker of a race.
A break of five cleared off early and whilst it slowly decomposed on the last climb, world time trial champion Tony Martin (QuickStep) and Simon Clarke (GreenEDGE) held on doggedly to contest the finish.
David Harmon and Sean Kelly were debating who would win the sprint – but I remembered Simon from the Grenoble Six Day in 2006 and there was no doubt in my mind about who was going to win.
Clarke is another product of the Australian Institute of Sport’s team pursuit ‘production line’: he was a member of the winning 2004 world junior championship team, along with a certain Matt Goss.
In 2005 his domestic palmares were impressive; including a GC win in the Tour of the Murray River – but a third place on a stage of the Giro delle Regione showed that the European scene didn’t overawe him.
The following year saw him become Australian Madison champion with Miles Olman and win a stage in the Vuelta Ciclista a Navarra.
In 2007 there were more podiums in Italy at the Liberazione and Regione as well as one in the Australian U23 road race championship.
The following season he made the Aussie U23 RR title his own and racked up wins in Italy and Japan.
The pro ranks beckoned, but unfortunately it was the doomed Italian Amica Chips team with whom he signed; despite the limitations of the squadra he placed top ten in races like the Trofeo Laigueglia and Insubria.
As he told us at the time;
“I was with them for three months and then they folded, we did 1.1 and HC races, but no Pro Tour races.
“I spent the second half of the season with ISD.
“There were 25-odd people looking for a job when Amica folded but I was lucky that Luca Scinto was a pro with Mapei and the company still sponsors the Australian Under 23 team – so there was a connection, there.
“They were happy with how I rode for them, so I was retained for this year.”
When the team collapsed, there was that lifeline from Luca Scinto and his ISD team, for whom Clarke completed 2009 and rode for in 2010.
He rode a good programme with ISD, including Milan-Sanremo – but when he told them towards the end of 2010 that he was leaving to ride for Astana in 2011; they promptly stopped entering him for any races.
And as a ‘True Blue’ Aussie, he couldn’t say ‘no’ when GreenEDGE came knocking at the start of 2012, and now he’s grabbed them their second Grand Tour stage win – after Matt Goss’s Giro stage win.
The stage looked like it was going to be little bit of a damp squib, with the break 13 minutes clear and the peloton on cruise control on flat, featureless roads.
But then Flecha attacked to force an echelon, Valverde came down as the field ‘whiplashed’ and all of a sudden the damp squib had become a thousand Euros per ticket pyrotechnic display.
Valverde was forced to chase for the rest of the stage, first in company with three of his team mates and then with Ixausti, who management called back from the main group to assist their team leader on the final climb.
Inxausti and Cobo both spoke to Sky; asking them to relent and let Valverde rejoin – but it was; ‘no more Mr. Nice Guy’ from Froome.
As Valverde languished in the rear of four echelons in the helicopter ‘long shot,’ my phone rang.
A delighted Viktor enthused;
“It’s good to see that sportsmanship nonsense has gone out the window and Froome has them going like loonies because they’ve seen Valverde is down!”
Cycling just wouldn’t be the same if there was no Vik in my life.
Saxo-Tinkoff showed real restraint, doing nothing to aid Sky in driving – although they did step it up on the finish climb; with Contador and Froome again sparring.
But BMC added some real force to the head of affairs – so expect a BMC stage win with little reaction from Sky, at some point to come.
Valverde showed real grinta, never giving up, passing riders by the dozen on the climb; and in the end only conceding 55 seconds to Contador and Froome.
Rodriguez pulled on the red jersey of leadership as Valverde headed for the Sky bus to search for some answers.
The Tour organisers must be asking; ‘why couldn’t our race be like this?’
Tomorrow is a ‘sprinters’ stage,’ but in this race, I wouldn’t bet on it.
Hasta mañana.
Results - La Vuelta a España 2012 - Stage 4
Stage Result
2 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:00:02
3 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:22
4 Marcos Garcia (Spa) Caja Rural 0:00:55
5 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
6 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Radioshack-Nissan 0:00:57
7 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
8 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:01
9 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:01:04
10 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Radioshack-Nissan
11 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre – ISD
12 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
13 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team
14 Andre Fernando S. Martins Cardoso (Por) Caja Rural
15 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling
16 Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Lampre – ISD
17 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Radioshack-Nissan
18 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
19 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling
20 Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Astana Pro Team
21 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
22 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
23 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin – Sharp
24 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Movistar Team
25 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre – ISD
26 Tiago Machado (Por) Radioshack-Nissan
27 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team
28 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
29 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
30 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team
31 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
32 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 0:01:34
33 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
34 Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
35 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
36 Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Katusha Team 0:01:57
37 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:01:59
38 Adrian Palomares Villaplana (Spa) Andalucia
39 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team
40 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
41 John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
42 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
43 Yohann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
44 Hernani Broco (Por) Caja Rural
45 Rafal Majka (Pol) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
46 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:02:08
47 Romain Sicard (Fra) Euskaltel – Euskadi
48 Jesus Rosendo Prado (Spa) Andalucia 0:03:00
49 Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
50 Ivan Velasco Murillo (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 0:03:15
51 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 0:03:42
52 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
53 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:53
54 Alexsandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:04:15
55 Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team
56 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
57 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
58 Pablo Lechuga Rodriguez (Spa) Andalucia
59 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
60 Laurent Didier (Lux) Radioshack-Nissan
61 Juan Jose Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
62 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Argos-Shimano
63 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
64 Egor Silin (Rus) Astana Pro Team
65 Marco Marzano (Ita) Lampre – ISD
66 Koen De Kort (Ned) Argos-Shimano
67 Mickaël Buffaz (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
68 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
69 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) Argos-Shimano
70 Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spa) Lotto Belisol Team
71 Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin – Sharp 0:05:07
72 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:05:51
73 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:07:17
74 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Garmin – Sharp
75 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
76 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Lampre – ISD
77 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) BMC Racing Team
78 Jose Vicente Toribio Alcolea (Spa) Andalucia
79 Bruno Pires (Por) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank 0:07:53
80 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:09:28
81 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Garmin – Sharp
82 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
83 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team
84 Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col) Liquigas-Cannondale
85 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team
86 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
87 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Caja Rural
88 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team
89 Cristiano Salerno (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
90 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
91 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
92 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Spa) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
93 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
94 Grégory Rast (Swi) Radioshack-Nissan
95 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
96 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) FDJ-Big Mat
97 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
98 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha Team
99 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Katusha Team
100 Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha Team
101 Morris Possoni (Ita) Lampre – ISD
102 Oleksandr Kvachuk (Ukr) Lampre – ISD
103 Antonio Piedra Perez (Spa) Caja Rural
104 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
105 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Argos-Shimano
106 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Argos-Shimano
107 Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:12:14
108 Hayden Roulston (NZl) Radioshack-Nissan
109 Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) Radioshack-Nissan
110 Bertjan Lindeman (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
111 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
112 Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) Argos-Shimano
113 Martijn Keizer (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
114 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
115 Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) BMC Racing Team
116 John Degenkolb (Ger) Argos-Shimano
117 Simon Geschke (Ger) Argos-Shimano
118 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
119 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
120 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
121 Dominique Rollin (Can) FDJ-Big Mat
122 Frantisek Rabon (Cze) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
123 Javier Ramirez Abeja (Spa) Andalucia
124 Gustavo Cesar Veloso (Spa) Andalucia
125 Travis Meyer (Aus) Orica – GreenEdge
126 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel –