Vuelta Espana: Stage 7

2014_August_Prendas_Bannerr4

Jonas Van Genechten’s farewell present for IAM Cycling as he wins stage 7, Darwin Apatuma retains his overall lead

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Vuelta Espana: Stage 7

Jonas Van Genechten rewarded his IAM Cycling team from their efforts in their last Grand Tour when he outpowered a bunch depleted by a crash shortly before the line to win the 7th stage of the Vuelta in Puebla de Sanabria. The peloton had just reeled in escapees Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac) when Alberto Contador and several other riders hit the canvas, splitting the pack. Van Genechten did not miss his chance to surge and hand his team, who fold at the end of the season, their third victory in three Grand Tours this season.

189 riders left Maceda in the sun for this 7th stage to Puebla de Sanabria. But by kilometer eight, former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) had called it quits with lower back pain. In the meantime, several attempts fool place and the break of the day took shape at kilometer 12 with the following six riders — Victor Campenaerts (Lotto NL-Jumbo), Johan Le Bon (FDJ), Sander Armée (Lotto Soudal), Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac), Vegard Laengen (IAM Cycling) and Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis).

The Spaniard collected the points on offer on the third category Puerto de Allariz (km 25.3) and Alto de Fumaces (km 80) but the lead of the six never exceeded 3:32. A potential bunch sprint lost one its contenders when Italy’s Niccolo Bonifazio (Trek-Segafredo) pulled out of his first Grand Tour. Rein Taaramae (Katusha) who had been sick for a few days, also withdrew while Dimension Data team leader igor Anton was seen struggling with stomach problems.

Astana raised the tempo and the escapees were pulled back with 43.5 km to go as a split took place in the peloton, trapping Samuel Sanchez and Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) at the back. Sanchez returned on his own. The Kazkah team, emulating Orica-BikeExchange the previous day, kept pulling and Dario Cataldo went with 30 km to go. The Italian was quickly joined by his team-mate Luis Leon Sanchez, Italy’s Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx-Quick Step), Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac) and the relentless Mate, who collected the points at the top of Alto de Padornelo. In this climb, attacks took place from all corners of the bunch but to no avail.

With 15 km to go, the five retained a slim 30-second lead but the final descent was too long to hold the chasing pack at bay even if Luis Leon Sanchez and Clarke refused to call it a day and were only caught 300 metres from the line. At the junction, Contador and several others, including Samuel Senchez, missed a corner and the peloton reached the final stretch in disorder, allowing Van Genechten to sprint for the biggest win in his career. Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff) was second and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) was third.

 Jonas Van Genechten: “I was struggling on the first few hundred meters of the final categorized climb. After that, the climb was always rolling.  In the last two kilometers, we had really to jostle and fight for position.  At the exit of the chicane leading to the small final slope, I positioned myself perfectly. I didn’t waste any time from there, and I tried to put all my power into my pedals. And then to beat guys like Valverde and Gilbert in a finish like this makes it all the more beautiful.”

Darwin Atapuma (race leader): “Today it was a fairly quiet stage for me because the team worked well and controlled the stage and let me conserve my energy. Like yesterday the breakaway wasn’t a threat to the GC so we were happy to let them get away as long as they were kept at a realistic distance ahead. We reacted quickly when Astana Pro Team put the pressure on and we stayed calm to bring Samuel Sanchez back to the group. The only tricky and dangerous part was the finish and I needed to brake to avoid the crash, but I stayed alert and got to the finish line without any problems.”

“I never thought that I would have the red jersey for 4 days as I have been taking things day by day. I’m very lucky to keep it for a fourth day but the most important thing for me is that I have good condition. The GC contenders are so strong here that I expected the overall leader to change but I am enjoying every moment in red for as long as I can keep it.”

Chris Froome: “There have been a lot of crashes these last couple of days,” said Froome after the stage. “For us unfortunately we lost (Michal) Kwiatkowski this morning which is a big blow. He’s a big part of the team, he has a lot of horsepower and is in great shape – so it’s a real shame to be losing him. (Dropping to eight riders) is definitely going to have an effect but hopefully we’ve got enough strength throughout the team to get the job done. We’ll have to see how the next few days go.”

“Tomorrow’s climb we did back in 2014. It’s a tough, tough finish. Again it’s going to be about getting there, hopefully in a good position, and seeing how the legs feel. I think I’m where I need to be. I think I’ve had a pretty good start to the race and I’m actually looking forward to getting to the business end of it now. We’ve had a few transfer stages that have been a bit stressful and it will be good to get back into the racing side of it.”

Alberto Contador: “With 800m to go I was very well positioned so I told Benna to go for the sprint. With 400m to go on a left corner I was hit by someone that likes braking a lot and crashed on my left side. I took a big hit on my calf and my quad, and in general I have extensive superficial wounds on the entire left side of my body. It hurts a lot but it seems that there’s nothing broken. We have a long transfer to the hotel of 120km now – I will rest for the night and tomorrow morning we will assess my situation.”

Sean Yates: “As far as we know it’s just cuts and bruises, but he came down pretty hard and we’ll know more after he gets further checks,” explained Sport Director Sean Yates after the finish. “It looked like he got squeezed on the corner – he’s been caught out this season by being too far back, and today he was right up the front and still was involved, so it’s real bad luck.

“Most of the stage was quite straight forward, with a break of six away. Then suddenly with 40km to go Astana started to tear it up and reduced the peloton before putting two guys up the road. Behind, the sprinters teams were chasing hard. We knew the final was tricky so the plan was to have [Michael] Gogl and Benna leading Alberto at the end, which they did, and then Benna finished with a strong sprint to take second.

“The guys were where they needed to be when it mattered today and stuck to the plan at the end. For Alberto, we will know more later – it’s not ideal timing with three tough stages coming up, so we keep our fingers crossed.”

Philippe Gilbert: “There’s not much to say really. I was fourth on today’s stage so it was not really a good result. The main thing is that I have nothing wrong with me from the crash yesterday. I definitely missed this opportunity today to win the stage but but we will see for later. I’m not sure exactly which stage will be suited to be as we are now heading for the mountains and then the rest day, but a stage similar to today’s is another good opportunity.”

Alejandro Valverde: “We got safely through another difficult day. Sad about not winning? Not really much. I wasn’t expecting to contest the stage, but when you’re racing for GC, you’ve got to keep a good position to avoid crashes, all the nerves at the front… and being there, I couldn’t help but try it. I asked Rojas to lead me out, he set me up perfectly and I could take third into a finish with stronger guys than me, those more suited to slightly uphill finish after top speeds. It might have seemed like a calm stage before the finale, but we all struggled a lot, especially when Astana started picking up the pace before the climb”.

“We didn’t know what their plan would be, yet Cataldo and Luisle did a fantastic job, especially Sánchez. I’ve got to congratulate my fellow countryman because he was so close to winning. Those curves in the final kilometer made for a dangerous finish, but I didn’t realize they had crashed behind. Actually, Contador was riding by my side with 700m to go, as he told Bennati: ‘Go for the volata.’ I don’t know how he got to crash. Our strategy for the weekend? Just one: going day by day, one pedal stroke at a time.”

Stage 7
1 BELVAN GENECHTEN Jonas IAM CYCLING 03h 55′ 44”
2 ITABENNATI Daniele TINKOFF
3 ESPVALVERDE Alejandro MOVISTAR TEAM
4 BELGILBERT Philippe BMC RACING TEAM
5 FRAREZA Kévin FDJ
6 LTUBAGDONAS Gediminas AG2R LA MONDIALE
7 BELMEERSMAN Gianni ETIXX – QUICK STEP
8 ITASBARAGLI Kristan DIMENSION DATA
9 FRAHARDY Romain COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS
10 BELVAN DER SANDE Tosh LOTTO SOUDAL

21 COLATAPUMA Darwin BMC RACING TEAM
28 GBRYATES Simon ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE
36 COLQUINTANA Nairo MOVISTAR TEAM
37 GBRFROOME Christopher TEAM SKY
63 GBRKENNAUGH Peter TEAM SKY
99 GBRTHWAITES Scott BORA-ARGON 18 @ 02′ 10”
162 GBRCARTHY Hugh CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA @ 11′ 09”

Overall
1 COLATAPUMA Darwin BMC RACING TEAM 25h 41′ 05”
2 ESPVALVERDE Alejandro MOVISTAR TEAM @ 00′ 24”
3 GBRFROOME Christopher TEAM SKY @ 00′ 32”
4 COLQUINTANA Nairo MOVISTAR TEAM @ 00′ 38”
5 COLCHAVES Johan Esteban ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE @ 00′ 38”
6 ESPSANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel BMC RACING TEAM @ 01′ 07”
7 CZEKONIG Leopold TEAM SKY @ 01′ 12”
8 GBRKENNAUGH Peter TEAM SKY @ 01′ 14”
9 ITABRAMBILLA Gianluca ETIXX – QUICK STEP @ 01′ 22”
10 GBRYATES Simon ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE @ 01′ 28”
11 ESPMORENO FERNANDEZ Daniel MOVISTAR TEAM @ 01′ 28”
12 ESPCONTADOR Alberto TINKOFF @ 01′ 52”
13 ESPDE LA CRUZ David ETIXX – QUICK STEP @ 01′ 55”
14 SUIWYSS Marcel IAM CYCLING @ 02′ 07”
15 USATALANSKY Andrew CANNONDALE-DRAPAC PRO CYCLING TEAM @ 02′ 13”
16 ITASCARPONI Michele ASTANA PRO TEAM @ 02′ 17”
17 BELHERMANS Ben BMC RACING TEAM @ 02′ 20”
18 ITAFORMOLO Davide CANNONDALE-DRAPAC PRO CYCLING TEAM @ 02′ 34”
19 FRAELISSONDE KENNY FDJ @ 02′ 46”
20 FRALATOUR Pierre-Roger AG2R LA MONDIALE @ 02′ 50”

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