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



Vuelta a Espana: Stage 1

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-1/results)

Jakob Fuglsang pulled on the leader’s jersey at a grand tour for the first time in his career on Saturday as Leopard Trek dominated the 13.5km team time trial along the Benidorm beachfront to open its Vuelta a España account in glorious style.

The Luxembourg outfit, led splendidly by a Fabian Cancellara resplendent in rainbow stripes, took the fastest intermediate time and maintained that sizzling pace under the baking Spanish sun to finish with a time of 16:30, which wasn’t to be bettered by any other team.

In second place was Liquigas-Cannondale, the Italian squad finishing in 16:34, five seconds ahead of HTC-Highroad, who managed a respectable 16:39. And with Cancellara and co setting their time early in proceedings, the stage became a shootout between them and the team of defending champion Vincenzo Nibali.

While it was Leopard Trek who won out on the day, Nibali will be buoyed in his title defence by the performance of his teammates. Sagan crossed the line first but with Nibali already within touching distance of the leader’s jersey, his quest for a second consecutive title could hardly have started better.

The man in that leader’s jersey, Fuglsang, was a surprised recipient after the finish, explaining that he hadn’t expected to be the man at the front of the team as it crossed the line. “We didn’t talk about it at the start; the goal today was to do a good team time trial,” he said. “We knew we could win if we rode at our maximum and we’d have a chance.

“I went as hard as I could and thought that someone would pass me at the end but they didn’t.”

The 13.5km test along the Benidorm beachfront saw several teams challenged by the technical nature of the course and the pace required to stay near the front of the fast finishers. The biggest name to topple was Team Sky, as Bradley Wiggins’ tilt at the Vuelta title got off to a horrible start. The British squad rode along the beach with only four riders until Xavier Zandio regained contact and the quintet went on to finish 42 seconds behind Leopard Trek.

Fuglsang himself acknowledged the perils of the short yet demanding day in the saddle. “The course today had everything – there was a hard start and it was technical,” he said. “You had to be careful not to blow up the whole team and not to crash – Davide Viganò crashed at the top of the course.”

Others who crashed included David Blanco and Nick Nuyens, the latter coming down hard as the course dropped towards the beachfront and he would finish behind his Saxo Bank-Sungard teammates.

Another team to suffer on the day was RadioShack, as overall hopeful Janez Brajkovic suffered a mechanical just metres off the start ramp and slowed the American squad’s progress, resulting in a time of 16:59 – enough for 14th place.

While Saxo Bank endured a bad day, two of its former riders, Fuglsang and Cancellara, will now feature in Leopard Trek’s ambitions for the remainder of this Vuelta, as the Dane explained after the finish: “I’m going for the overall and will see how far I can go – my goal is the general classification. We have [Daniele] Bennati for the sprints and Fabian for the [individual] time trial,” he said.

Other notable performances came from Astana, who sat in second on the standings until HTC-Highroad and then Liquigas-Cannondale knocked them down to fourth, while Movistar rode a fast first intermediate time to do enough for fifth place by day’s end.

Skil-Shimano, a surprise inclusion in this year’s Vuelta a España, did themselves proud with eighth place after leading off the 22 teams in the day’s starting order. The Dutch outfit bettered more illustrious squads despite a slow start and with German sprinter Marcel Kittel in their line-up, they will be hoping to do even better tomorrow.

Fuglsang will wear the red jersey in tomorrow’s 171.5km journey from La Nucía to Playas de Orihuela, where the fast men are expected to dominate. His teammate Bennati will be aiming to prevail in his match-up against the likes of Mark Cavendish, Tyler Farrar and Tom Boonen. The Italian has won stages and the points classification of the Vuelta a España in the past and will hope to resume his run of success with victory.

Result
1	Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek	0:16:30
2	Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Leopard Trek
3	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek
4	Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Leopard Trek
5	Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek
6	Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:00:04
7	Damiano Caruso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
8	Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
9	Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
10	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale