Gent - Wevelgem 2012

Boonen wins Gent-Wevelgem

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/gent-wevelgem-2012/results)

Tom Boonen was on song again at Gent-Wevelgem, showing prime form and fortune ahead of the Tour of Flanders by out-sprinting Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Matti Breschel (Rabobank).

In a somewhat messy sprint marred by a crash from a Saxo Bank rider who took down JJ Rojas (Movistar) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Boonen sped away ahead of the fall and had plenty of power to hold off young Sagan.

"I've found back my sprint. I'm not the fastest man in the peloton – that's probably Mark Cavendish – but if everybody is tired then I'm one of the best. I wasn't fully recovered from Friday's race and I wasn't the best in the race but we decided straight away that we would try to get a sprint. The Kemmelberg is too far from the finish to try something there," Boonen said.

Runner-up Sagan wasted some energy in a breakaway attempt together with Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek) at 25km from the finish in Wevelgem but they were caught back by a large group led by the Omega Pharma-QuickStep troops.

After 235km of racing Sagan lacked the punch to finish ahead of Boonen. "After the last climb of the Kemmelberg I was in a breakaway with Cancellara. I felt good but that was already the case in the Tirreno. It's better to try something then to do nothing at all. In the sprint Boonen was stronger," Sagan said.

Just before the breakaway attempt from Sagan there was a demonstration from Matti Breschel on the Kemmelberg. The Dane left the peloton behind on the steep cobbled climb. "I couldn't go any slower," Breschel joked. "I got beaten by two guys who, right now, are better than me. I felt good today but Boonen is the best right now," Breschel stated.

A nine-rider group stayed away much of the race, but the real story was a split in the field with about 35 km to go. World champion Mark Cavendish (Sky) was left behind in a chasing group and tried to bridge the gap on his own, but never saw the front of the race again.

The breakaway started early in the day with seven riders taking the initiative: Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Koen Barbé (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony), Thomas Bertolini (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia), Vladimir Isaychev (Katusha), Anders Lund (Saxo Bank), Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator) and Kevin Van Melsen (Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s).

Julien Fouchard (Cofidis, le crédit en ligne) and Yuriy Krivtsov (Lampre – ISD) were able to bridge up with these seven to form the nine-man group which colored the first half of the race.

The nine gathered a lead of up to ten minutes while riding towards the North Sea. When turning away from the sea the headwind tortured the breakaway group and when riding through the north of France the gap quickly dropped down to seven minutes.

By the time they reached the foot of the often crucial Kemmelberg, the lead for the breakaway was down to 2:15, and Lund and Insausti attacked the rest of the breakaway group. On the second ascent of the Kemmelberg Rabobank's Breschel put on an impressive show, his powerful surge opening a gap in the peloton.

On the following Monteberg, the last climb of the day, riders including Luca Paolini (Katusha), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Steve Chainel (FDJ) attempted to break away, but when Fabian Cancellara came to the front with Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), the duo quickly caught up with the remains of the early breakaway. With 30 km to go they trailed the two leaders by 1:15 with a following peloton of about 40 riders. Behind, a group including sprinters like Mark Cavendish (Sky), André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) and John Degenkolb (Project 1t4i) was quickly losing ground.

With 16km to go the breakaway and the two front groups were all together, but the second half of the peloton with Cavendish was still trailing by 45 seconds. The fast men in front were Boonen, Matthew Goss (GreenEdge), Daniele Bennati (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek), José Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar) and Oscar Freire (Katusha).

That gap only grew, and it soon became clear that it could not be closed.  Cavendish did his best to bridge up, but it was not to be.

The pace stayed high as the group went into the finale. Oscar Freire of Katusha opened the sprint, but Boonen is on a roll and proved once again to have the fastest legs.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Tom Boonen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep	5:32:44
2	Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale
3	Matti Breschel (Den) Rabobank Cycling Team
4	Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Katusha Team
5	Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling
6	Daniele Bennati (Ita) Radioshack-Nissan
7	Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
8	Steve Chainel (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
9	Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
10	Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team

To Sum Up Milan-San Remo

10 conclusions from Milan-San Remo

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/10-conclusions-from-milan-san-remo)

1. Fabian Cancellara's (RadioShack-Nissan) racing style has skirted the thin line between bravery and folly in the big classics over the past two seasons, and Milan-San Remo was no exception. Once again, he won hearts and minds with his wholehearted attacking, and once again, he found himself thwarted by a cannier rider at the death.

There was something Sisyphean about Cancellara's plunge into San Remo, with Simon Gerrans and Vincenzo Nibali scrambling for his back wheel. Even though he surely knew that his weakness in the sprint would be exposed, he persisted in his labours nonetheless. But was simply attempting to blast riders of the caliber of Gerrans and Nibali off his wheel a glorious failure or an act of arrogance?

Cancellara triumphed at San Remo in 2008 by patiently biding his time before making one decisive attack inside the final 2km. In contrast to that clinical display, on Saturday he seemed to try and bludgeon his way to victory with repeated blows, and the result was rather less tidy.

That said, one can never step in the same river twice, and the circumstances of this year's race were different to four years ago. Once Cancellara made the decision to bridge to Gerrans and Nibali, and once it was apparent that they would not collaborate, he perhaps had little option but to attempt to burn them off his wheel. Besides, had Cancellara held his fire on the Poggio, he may well have been forced to take up the reins of the pursuit behind in any case, such is his lofty reputation.

At the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, the Swiss rider will have tougher terrain at his disposal to make the difference in the finale, although it remains to be seen if he will show his hand as early and as often as he did in 2011.

2. Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge) didn't bat an eyelid when it was put to him in the winner's press conference that his had been a stolen victory, and with good reason. He had a cast-iron alibi in the chase group in the shape of last year's winner Matt Goss, and instead the Australian cleverly maintained the lead group's momentum with a fleeting turn on the front approaching the final kilometre.

Laudable though Cancellara's strength was, cycling would be an altogether poorer spectacle if victories were decided simply by watts produced. Tactical cunning and sheer sangfroid are just as important a part of a classic winner's make up as raw power, as Gerrans demonstrated on Saturday.

3. With Vincenzo Nibali and Peter Sagan in its ranks, Liquigas-Cannondale had two potential race-winners with contrasting styles at its disposal on Saturday, and the team set out its stall in three phases. Their first aim was to shed the peloton of the pure sprinters, and then Nibali was to go on the attack on the Poggio, while Sagan kept his powder dry for the sprint from a reduced group behind.

In the event, Liquigas succeeded in following the playbook but failed to come away with the win. Cavendish was duly shed on Le Manie, and Nibali forced the winning move on the Poggio, while Sagan took the sprint behind for fourth.
Given the ease with which Sagan held off John Degenkolb, it's tempting to suggest that Nibali should not have attacked and Liquigas should simply have ridden to set up Sagan for the sprint. However, after Valerio Agnoli swung off midway up the Poggio, Daniel Oss was the only other Liquigas rider in the front group. Would that have been enough to pull back a rampant Cancallara?

4. Marcel Kittel may be the marquee young German sprint talent at Project 1t4i, but he has some high quality company in the shape of John Degenkolb. The former HTC-Highroad rider enjoyed a fine Milan-San Remo debut. Just 23 years of age and in only his second season at the top level, Degenkolb dealt admirably with the 300km of racing and finished second in the group sprint just behind the winning break. His victor, of course, was the even more precocious Peter Sagan. Expect to see both men back at the business end of La Primavera in the years to come.

5. While the likes of Liquigas-Cannondale were always going to try and make life difficult for Mark Cavendish (Sky), it was a surprise to see the world champion eliminated from contention on Le Manie with over 90km still to race. As ever, there will be much conjecture over the true state of Cavendish's early-season fitness, but given his solid start to life in the rainbow jersey, it may simply be that he endured an off day at the most inopportune time. Certainly, it would be no surprise if he were to make a forceful response at Gent-Wevelgem next weekend – Cavendish is rarely more dangerous than when stung by perceived slights.

6. Bubbling under in the lead-up to Milan-San Remo after early season wins in Australia and Spain, Oscar Freire was quietly fancied by a number of observers to take his fourth win at La Classicissima, and when Katusha led the charge behind Cancellara, it looked as though he would conjure up a big win from nothing all over again. Instead, the chasers fell just shy of making the juncture, while Freire himself had to give best to Sagan, Degenkolb and Pippo Pozzato in the sprint for fourth. In what may be his final season as a professional, one wonders if Freire will manage to work the oracle one more time before his exits the stage.

7. Filippo Pozzato brooked his share of criticism during his final season at Katusha, but the man from Vicenza has carried himself with a renewed verve since he signed with Farnese Vini-Selle Italia ahead of the 2012 season. Training under the watchful gaze of Luca Scinto all winter, Pozzato set himself the target of slugging it out with the big hitters at San Remo, Flanders and Roubaix.

A broken collarbone at the Tour of Qatar threatened to derail his campaign, but remarkably he was back racing within a week of his operation, so desperate was he not to miss out on racing miles ahead of the classics. The gamble looked to have paid dividends on Saturday as he rode to a solid 6th place in San Remo. While it's worth noting that he finished 5th last year before the wheels came off his Katusha career in Belgium, Pozzato seems altogether more assured under Scinto's guidance, and it will be fascinating to see if he can recover his form of 2009 on the cobbles this April.

8. BMC's travails continued at Milan-San Remo, and remarkably the expensively-assembled outfit has yet to pick up a single win in 2012. Their Classicissima challenge was dented early in the week when Thor Hushovd was forced out of the race with illness, and the Norwegian was perhaps always likely to be their best chance of success. Philippe Gilbert, too, was stricken by fever and dental problems in the week before the race, and a crash over the top of the Cipressa ended his challenge before it was possible to draw any real conclusions as to his actual state of form.

Greg Van Avermaet was also a faller and it was left to Alessandro Ballan to keep their end up with an 8th place finish. While there were mitigating circumstances aplenty for their low-key showing on the road to San Remo, the galacticos will be expected to start making a telling impact on races at the very least as the focus switches to the cobbles.

9. Given his twin talents of endurance and speed, it seems almost an aberration that Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) has never triumphed at Milan-San Remo. In fine form at Paris-Nice last week, no less a figure than Michele Bartoli had tipped Boonen for the win on Saturday and the Belgian appeared comfortable throughout. Caught behind a crash on the descent of the Poggio, however, Boonen lost sight of the leaders and his challenge ended. Still, his season is as ever defined by the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, where the signs are he will renew his rivalry with Fabian Cancellara.

10. A 300km classic from Milan to San Remo is perhaps something of an anachronism, a throwback to the early years of organised racing. Certainly, one does not envisage that any new additions to the WorldTour calendar would ever feature such a lengthy point-to-point race. That said, throughout its history, the organisers have often updated the race by tweaking its format slightly, adding the Poggio (1960), Cipressa (1982) and Le Manie (2009).

Change may be afoot again as soon as next year, with rumours of a steeper route to the top of the Cipressa and a finish line closer to the Poggio. The idea to give attackers more of a chance to finish alone, but as has been the case since 1907, it's the riders rather than the route that will be the making of the race.

Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne 2012

Cavendish wins in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/kuurne-brussel-kuurne-2012/results)
Mark Cavendish claimed a straightforward victory in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, delivered to the line perfectly by his Sky teammates.

Resplendent in his world champion's jersey, the Manxman took victory by a decisive margin over FDJ-BigMat rider Yauheni Hutarovich. Vacansoleil-DCM's Kenny Van Hummel was two lengths back in third, while world under 23 champion Arnaud Démare (FDJ-BigMat) was a fine fourth.

Cavendish had suffered with illness earlier in the race, but his Sky team set about bringing the race back together for a bunch finish on the flat run-in to the finish in Kuurne. In the finishing straight, CJ Sutton piloted Cavendish to victory.

“After the cobbles I told CJ that I didn’t feel so good,” Cavendish said afterwards. “Once we took control it got better although I was still vomiting. It’s incredible. I don’t know if I can take any credit for this win. The whole day they looked after me. I was never in the win and always in the front of the peloton. It’s a great win.”

Coming into the final kilometre, the stage appeared set for a duel between Cavendish and his great rival André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) but the German found himself boxed in and faded in the final meters, finishing tenth.

“At 300m from the finish line I was confident that I could not lose the sprint. Then Van Hummel swerved from right to left and there was no more space for me. I should’ve gone earlier,” a clearly disappointed Greipel said.

A fast start

In a quick and nervous first hour at 50km/h no attacks proved successful. After a collective stop at a railway crossing a group powered away.

Seven riders made the day's early breakaway: Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Niko Eeckhout (An Post-Sean Kelly), Jérôme Baugnies (Team Netapp), Koen Barbé (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony), Gilles Devillers (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony), Justin Van Hoecke (Wallonie Bruxelles-Credit Agricole) and Julien Fouchard (Cofidis, le credit en ligne).

At the fourth climb of the day the seven had a gap of four minutes on a peloton led by the Sky team. By the time they reached the Oude Kwaremont, the gap was down to three minutes. Van Avermaet set the pace up front, dropping all his companions except for 41 year-old Eeckhout. At the top of the long cobbled helling another half a minute was whittled off the gap thanks to the efforts from Maarten Wynants (Rabobank) at the front of the peloton.

The selective climb caused some damage and the peloton split in several groups. A first group of about twenty-five riders including fast men Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda) and John Degenkolb (Project 1t4i) quickly picked up half a minute on a sprinter-studded peloton where Lotto-Belisol did the work.

With seventy kilometers to go Eeckhout and Van Avermaet were re-joined by Barbé, Fouchard and Baugnies. They had 1:30 on the Boonen group, with the peloton trailing by fifty more seconds, but efforts from the Vancansoleil-DCM team, Lotto-Belisol and Europcar closed first the gap to the Boonen group, and then the fate of the seven up front was sealed.

Eeckhout’s effort

As his group was being brought back, Eeckhout attacked and was followed by Wouter Mol (Vacancoleil-DCM), and was later joined by Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Katusha), Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun), Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis) and Sébastien Delfosse (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony).

With Sky content to let a group dangle just within their reach, the new escape quickly picked up half a minute at 40km from the finish line. When approaching the finish line a first time, having two more local circuits of 16km ahead of them, the gap ran up to a minute.

The Sky train was in full control, however, and one lap later half a minute was gone from that gap. At 10km from the finish line there were only 10 seconds left and a bunch sprint seemed unavoidable.

Once more it was Eeckhout who was the last man standing, having attacked his companions as the peloton was nipping on their heels, and had a brief foray with a Engoulvent before the high pace of the Sky-led group sped past.

With four men ahead of Cavendish, Sky hurtled into the finishing chute at such a pace that no rider stood a chance at coming around the world champion. Only Hutarovich could get close to his wheel, while Van Hummel looked glued to the tarmac as he struggled over the final meters to claim third.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Mark Cavendish (GBr) Sky Procycling	4:27:30
2	Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ-Big Mat
3	Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
4	Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
5	Alexander Serebryakov (Rus) Team Type 1 - Sanofi
6	Tom Veelers (Ned) Project 1t4i
7	Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Team Europcar
8	Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's
9	Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha Team
10	André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol Team

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 12

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-12/results)

After winning from a small group in Córdoba, Peter Sagan showed the range of his talent when he led the bunch into Pontevedra. Showing consummate skill as he jumped from wheel to wheel in the final two kilometres, the Liquigas-Cannondale puncheur came into the final straight on the wheel of Leopard Trek's Daniele Bennati, who was being led-out by Fabian Cancellara.

When Cancellara moved aside and Bennati launched his sprint, Sagan surged out on the Italian's left and never looked likely to be caught on the drag up to the line. HTC-Highroad's John Degenkolb pushed him hardest, the German finishing a bike length down on the Slovak, with Bennati fading back in third.

"We looked at the route in the team meeting this morning and thought it would be a good chance for me. I'm delighted to have won the stage and want to say thanks to my teammates for setting me up for it," said Sagan. "There was a great deal of confusion coming into the finish. But I was fortunate in getting on to Bennati's wheel, which put me in a good position."

The high speed, tight bends and gently rising run-in to the finish strung the bunch out to the extent that there were a number of splits. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) and Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) were the two riders to gain among the overall contenders. They finished five seconds ahead of a group containing race leader Bradley Wiggins and his Sky teammate Chris Froome, as well as defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale).

Wiggins, though, remains in the leader's red jersey, but with the four riders behind him now packed in even tighter than ever. Froome is still seven seconds down in second place, Kessiakoff leapfrogged Nibali into third at nine seconds, with the Italian now fourth at 10 seconds. Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard Trek) stays in fifth place at 19 seconds, with Mollema now only 36 seconds down in sixth having won the first intermediate sprint of the day that earned him six bonus seconds and edged another five closer to the riders above him at the finish.

Nibali said he was not concerned by the time gained by Kessiakoff and Mollema. "I lost a few seconds because I got onto Marcel Kittel's wheel, and he ended up braking. But I'm not too worried as I didn't lose much time."

The Liquigas-Cannondale leader added that he will waiting to see what his rivals do before making any attacks on the three mountain stages that kick off with tomorrow's tough run into Ponferrada. "The big differences will occur on the Angliru [on Sunday]… I've been told that it's a climb very much like the Zoncolan. This year in the Giro I had a good day there and if my form is the same I will do well there."

Four form the break of the day

The move north into the province of Galicia brought a welcome reduction in the temperature as the riders set off on what was likely to be one of the very few stages left where the sprinters could shine. The early flurries came to nothing, allowing Mollema to pick up a very handy six seconds at that first intermediate sprint with just 7km covered. Another 7km down the road, Adam Hansen (Omega Pharma-Lotto), José Luis Roldán (Andalucia-Caja Granada) and Luis Angel Maté (Cofidis) broke clear. As they pressed on, Vacansoleil-DCM's Ruslan Pydgornyy jumped across to them.

As this quartet went to work, the speed in the peloton eased for a while, allowing the break to build up a lead of more than nine minutes as they climbed the third-category Alto de Moscoso with 50km covered. Pydgornyy led over the summit. After the peloton had crossed this climb, Leopard Trek, Sky and Skil-Shimano combined to reduce the break's advantage. Initially the peloton nibbled at the lead, but when Pydgornyy led over the third-category Alto Ponte Caldeas his group were less than five minutes clear.

That advantage continued to drop steadily. Soon after the riders had passed through impressively big crowds in Pontevedra for the first time with 100km covered, HTC-Highroad added their weight to the chase, helping to reduce the break's advantage to little more than two minutes with 35km remaining.

The sprinters gather their forces

As the gap continued to close, former HTC rider Hansen took off from his three companions, but only gained a handful of seconds on them before he was chased down and dropped, leaving Pydgornyy, Roldán and Maté at the front. Back in the bunch, Garmin-Cervelo, Skil-Shimano and Lampre-ISD were all contributing to the chase in the hope of setting up Heinrich Haussler, Marcel Kittel and Alessandro Petacchi, respectively.

Sensing that the bunch would soon be upon them, Maté, who admitted later that he knew the terrain of the stage well and thought that a break might succeed, made a final attempt to get clear with 13km remaining. That saw off Roldán, but Pydgornyy got back up to the Cofidis rider and the pair continued to work together until they were finally overhauled with 6km remaining.

As they were swept up, Maté's teammate Julien Fouchard countered and briefly got a gap. Vacansoleil-DCM's Santo Anza soon zipped past the Frenchman and managed to hold off the Leopard Trek-led bunch for a kilometre, but the sprinters weren't to be denied.

HTC-Highroad took over from Leopard Trek for a couple of kilometres, then Bennati's men took over on the front once more approaching the final-kilometre kite. Bennati, though, looked to be struggling to hold Cancellara's wheel as the course weaved through Pontevedra. The world time trial champion seemed to misjudge the final left-hand bend slightly, losing a bit of momentum, but then went full throttle up the rise to the line, before peeling over with 250 metres remaining. Bennati drove on, but had no answer to Sagan's impressive acceleration.

1	Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale	4:03:01
2	John Degenkolb (Ger) HTC-Highroad	0:00:01
3	Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek
4	Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre - ISD
5	Juan José Haedo (Arg) Saxo Bank Sungard
6	Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team
7	Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
8	Paul Martens (Ger) Rabobank Cycling Team
9	Nikolas Maes (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team
10	Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale

GC Overall

1	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	46:53:47
2	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:07
3	Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Pro Team Astana	0:00:09
4	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:00:10
5	Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek	0:00:19
6	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:00:36
7	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek	0:01:06
8	Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC	0:01:27
9	Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Team RadioShack	0:01:53
10	Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Team RadioShack	0:02:00

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 7

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-7/results)

Opportunities for the sprinters have been limited at this year’s Vuelta but Friday afternoon’s  finish  in Talavera de la Reina ended with thrills and spills as in-form German sprinter Marcel Kittel took out the seventh stage with a powerful kick.

Stage six winner Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and experienced Spaniard Oscar Freire (Rabobank) took second and third respectively but Skil-Shimano were the only ones celebrating. Garmin-Cervélo sprinter Tyler Farrar and many other riders were left licking their wounds when they tumbled at speed, within sight of the line.

“It’s like a dream today,” said Kittel, who has enjoyed a stellar run over the past two months, with four stage victories in the Tour of Poland and another quartet in the Four Days of Dunkerque. He now has a Grand Tour win in that palmares and he paid tribute to his Skil-Shimano squad.

“We’re so proud of each other today,” continued Kittel. “We did really good teamwork and I’m so happy.”

Whilst Kittel was cashing in on his great form, the crash in the final metres spoiled the day for everyone else, bringing down not only fast men but general classification hopeful Michele Scarponi, who had to pick himself up off the pavement along with several others including Vacansoleil-DCM’s Michal Golas, who suffered some serious-looking facial and dental injuries.

The high drama came at the end of another rather unspectacular stage that saw Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) remain in the red leader’s jersey at day’s end despite the carnage in the final metres. The Frenchman still sits 15 seconds ahead of Katusha’s Dani Moreno, with the defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) looming large a further second behind in third overall.

Reining them in before Talavera de la Reina

The last time Talavera de la Reina hosted a stage finish of the Vuelta, two years ago, a break prevailed in the city as Anthony Roux braved the late storm and won ahead of a thundering peloton.

Today the winner came from the big bunch that belted into town, after the four-man breakaway was unable to repeat the heroics of two years ago. Cofidis pair Luis Angel Mate and Julien Fouchard, plus Antonio Cabello Baena (Andalucia Caja Granada) and Steve Houanard (AG2R La Mondiale) were the men making headway early in the stage to form the escape group.

The quartet touched eight minutes at one point and they still enjoyed a lead of 2:43 with 50km remaining. But a further 20km down the road that had dropped by a minute. The sprinters’ teams had matters in control and it was clear that they weren’t going to let this plucky group keep the spoils when pickings have been limited thus far in the Vuelta.

Soon after a minor crash with 27km remaining that delayed BMC Racing’s Greg Van Avermaet, it was Team Sky which opened the throttle and made life difficult for those caught in the accident and subsequently chasing the peloton.

The pace meant that the rear of the bunch had also split significantly, and following the savage acceleration, the break’s advantage was slashed to just 40 seconds. Soon after Mate tried to make his mark on the stage by heading off the front of the escapees’ group solo. It was in vain as Mate’s companions soon regained contact and countered the Spaniard, with Fouchard also trying his luck but becoming the final domino to fall with eight kilometres remaining.

Four kilometres later, with the finish not far away, it was time for HTC-Highroad to come to the front, battling Rabobank to position John Degenkolb and Leigh Howard at the head of the peloton as Team Sky’s riders positioned themselves to help another Australian, Chris Sutton, in his quest for another stage win. With the man who has tasted success in the finish city in 2007– Daniele Bennati – under their wing, Leopard-Trek’s riders pushed themselves into place with two kilometres from the finish but Kittel’s Skil-Shimano teammates took over from them in the final left-hand corner.

The Dutch squad’s train was impressive in the closing kilometre, with Kittel able to come out of his final teammate’s slipstream with just 200 metres remaining. Just as he hit the front, Farrar tangled with Golas and others, hit the ground hard, falling in front of his fellow sprinters and much of the peloton.

Upfront and out of danger, Kittel had the speed and power to hold off Sagan, Freire and Bennati for a deserved win despite the confusion behind him. His sprinting prowess confirmed that his recent run of success was no fluke and he could transfer that form to the Grand Tour stage.

1	Marcel Kittel (Ger) Skil - Shimano	4:47:59
2	Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale
3	Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team
4	Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek
5	Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
6	Juan José Haedo (Arg) Saxo Bank Sungard
7	Tom Veelers (Ned) Skil - Shimano
8	Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre - ISD
9	Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Pro Team Astana
10	Leigh Howard (Aus) HTC-Highroad

CG Overall

1	Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quickstep Cycling Team	27:29:12
2	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team	0:00:15
3	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:00:16
4	Joaquím Rodríguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team	0:00:23
5	Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek	0:00:25
6	Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Pro Team Astana	0:00:41
7	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek	0:00:44
8	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:00:49
9	Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Spa) Movistar Team
10	Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Movistar Team	0:00:52

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 2

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-2/results)

After a disastrous team time trial, Team Sky struck back in the best possible way when Chris Sutton took his debut stage win at a grand tour, out-sprinting Vicente Reynes (Omega Pharma-Lotto) at the end of a disorganised sprint into Playas de Orihuela. The Australian timed his final surge perfectly, jumping in behind Reynes as the Spaniard hit out for the line from the top of the final rise with 300 meters remaining.

Reynes and Suttton opened a substantial gap on the big-name sprinters gathering behind. When Sutton jumped out from behind the Spaniard with 75m remaining, Reynes was not able to respond as the Australian powered past on his right. As Sutton sped clear and celebrated the biggest win of his career, Reynes thumped his bars with frustration. Skil-Shimano's Marcel Kittel was a fast-finishing third, ahead of Garmin-Cervélo's Tyler Farrar.

Sixth place on the stage for Daniele Bennati was enough to move him into the race leader's red jersey at the expense of teammate Jakob Fuglsang, although the two Leopard Trek riders remain tied on overall time.

With his mother at the Vuelta watching him race, 26-year-old Sutton was delighted with his win. "We don't exactly have the perfect lead-out train here but what we do have in the team is strength," said Sutton. "All the boys were fantastic today, they went back and got bidons for me, made sure I had enough food and drink all day. Bradley [Wiggins] looked after me for the last 20km along with Kurt Arvesen. Then I yelled at Thomas Löfkvist to 'Go!' coming out of the roundabout with 2km to go, and he just went straight up the outside and took me to the front.

"I knew it was a hard uphill finish. It kept switching back left and right and then someone from Lotto accelerated and I jumped on his wheel. I thought, 'This is a long way to go.' But I looked back and no one was there. I thought, 'Alright, I've got this one.' To win today is a dream come true. I can't believe it."

A very hot day's work

Despite concerns that one or two riders who crashed in the team time trial in Benidorm might not take to the start, primarily Saxo Bank's Nick Nuyens, a full complement of riders headed out. It didn't take long for the break of the day to form. Paul Martens (Rabobank), Adam Hansen (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Jesús Rosendo (Andalucía-Caja Granada) and Steve Houanard (AG2R-La Mondiale) went clear at the 3km mark as the temperature headed well past the 35-degree mark.

The quartet cooperated well until the final sections of the stage's only climb, the Alto de Relleu, after 28km. Rosendo attacked towards the summit with the aim of claiming the King of the Mountains jersey, but Martens out-sprinted him at the top. Edged out there, Rosendo then set his sights on the sprints jersey, and guaranteed himself a trip to the podium at the end of the stage by winning both intermediates on today's route.

A good day's work for Team Sky

The break's advantage stayed between five and six minutes for most of the stage, until HTC went to the front in the final quarter with the aim of setting up either Mark Cavendish or John Degenkolb. The smooth running of their train was hit, though, when Matt Goss became the race's first abandon.

As the HTC-led peloton closed in on the four escapees, former HTC man Hansen went off on his own. With 32km remaining and the bunch by now less than a minute behind, the Australian's effort was doomed. He stayed clear until 18km from the finish, when the peloton swept past, pushed on by a strong breeze.

With Spain in the middle of its holiday season, impressively large crowds had come out to watch the race as it flashed by some of the country's leading resorts. Inside the closing 10km, HTC was assisted in the pace-setting by Omega Pharma, Rabobank, Skil-Shimano and, ultimately, Leopard Trek, which had the twin aims of keeping Fuglsang out of trouble and setting up Bennati for the final sprint.

Inside the final kilometre, Leopard's Davide Vigano's went to the front and pushed on so hard that he got a gap on the pack, but the Italian was quickly swallowed up on the 5% drag up towards the line. No one team was able to organise an effective lead-out, making it every man for himself. Quick Step's Tom Boonen was briefly prominent, before Reynes made his move and Sutton went with him.

It was a wise move, resulting in the British team's first victory at the Vuelta less than 24 hours on from a rather shambolic showing in the Benidorm team time trial. To cap a great day, it had come less than two hours after Edvald Boasson Hagen had won the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg.

Result
1	Christopher Sutton (Aus) Sky Procycling	4:11:41
2	Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spa) Omega Pharma-Lotto
3	Marcel Kittel (Ger) Skil - Shimano
4	Tyler Farrar (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo
5	Matti Breschel (Den) Rabobank Cycling Team
6	Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek
7	Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Pro Team Astana
8	Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
9	Luca Paolini (Ita) Katusha Team
10	John Degenkolb (Ger) HTC-Highroad

General classification after stage 2

		Result
1	Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek	4:28:11
2	Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek
3	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek
4	Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Leopard Trek
5	Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:00:04
6	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
7	Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
8	Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
9	Damiano Caruso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
10	John Degenkolb (Ger) HTC-Highroad	0:00:09