May 06, 2008

David de la Fuente 2nd at Vuelta a Asturias

cyclingnews.com

SAUNIER DUVAL-SCOTT´s David de la Fuente was one of the big names today in the queen stage of the 52nd Vuelta a Asturias, from Pravia to the HC mountain pass Alto del Acebo (180.2 kilometres). The stage was characterized by a break of 18 riders, including winner Tomasz Marczynski (Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Doce), De la Fuente himself, and young "red bird" Raúl Alarcón.



The lead dropped to 7 when they hit Puerto del Connio (HC, 30 kilometres before the finish line): De la Fuente, Jonathan Castroviejo (Orbea-Oreka SDA), Nikita Eskov (Tinkoff Credit Systems), Edgar Pinto (Benfica), Gonzalo Rabuñal (Karpin-Galicia), and Ceramica Flaminia´s Cristiano Fumagalli and Marczynski. The Pole launched an attack ten kilometres before El Acebo, and climbed to the top with a time gap of over half a minute. One kilometre later, De la Fuente chased after him, but his efforts weren´t rewarded with victory, courtesy of the Polish rider´s strength. However, our Cantabrian rider earned the leadership of the KOM and Team classifications with his long escape. Ángel Vicioso (LA Aluminios-MSS) was able to defend his overall lead. The Asturian tour is coming to a close tomorrow with a 184-kilometre leg from Cangas del Narcea to Oviedo, featuring two categorised climbs: El Rodical (cat-2; Km. 26.7) and Alto del Pito (cat-3, Km. 119.9). How it unfolded Three mountains awaited the peloton on the fourth stage: the the Alto del Pozo de las Mujeres muertas at 97.9 kilometers (first category), the Puerto del Connio at 139.7km (HC) and the final ascent to the Santuario del Acebo (HC). A group of eighteen riders escaped on the Alto del Pozo de las Mujeres muertas including Liberty Seguro's Carlos Nozal; Euskaltel Euskadi's Aitor Hernández; Saunier Duval's David de la Fuente and Raúl Alarcon; José Luis Carrasco from Andalucía Cajasur; Rubén Reig from Contentpolis Murcia; Orbea Oreka's Jonathan Castroviejo and Sergio de Lis; Ceramica Flaminia's Tomasz Marczynski, Cristiano Fumagalli and Vladimir Duma; Giampaolo Cheula from Barloworld; Gonzalo Rabuñal and Vladimir Isaychev from Karpin Galicia; LA Aluminios MSS's Bruno Pires; Roger Beuchat from Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni; Diego Gallego from Burgos Monumental and last but not least Tinkoff's Nikita Eskov. The break's maximum advantage grew to be eight minutes and ten seconds, but its lead dropped when the group hit the Puerto del Connio, 19 kilometers long with an average rise of 7.5 percent. In the peloton, the GC leader's team LA Aluminios MSS did the bulk of the work as it had no rider in the breakaway group. The break splintered when four of the 18 racers crashed on the ascent and by the summit, the difference between the first racer and the peloton was just three minutes and 50 seconds. On the subsequent descent spectators admired the downhill skills of the Asturian Samuel Sánchez, who got a big gap without pedalling. After the long descent, the riders confronted the final difficulty of the day, the ascent to the sanctuary of the Acebo. The former group of eighteen completely split with Marczynski was in front, David de la Fuente in second along with Rabuñal in third. Marczyski gave it all and was able to celebrate his second win as professional rider. Behind, Rabuñal and de la Fuente worked well together, but they were not able to reach the Pole. In the peloton, leader Vicioso and his two team-mates Constantino Zaballa and Bruno Pires set a steady rhythm and were able to distance the rivals, with the exception of Benficas José Azevedo and Liberty Seguro's Koldo Gil. Vicioso and Gil collaborated - both sharing a mutual interest in a high GC placing. They reached the finish line with a big lead ahead of their biggest rival Stefano Garzelli. Wednesday's final stage from Cangas del Narcea to the capital Oviedo will run 184.4 kilometers with two mountains, the Alto Del Rodical (second category) and the Alto del Pito (third category). It will surely offer a real fight for the stage victory, even if Liberty Seguros's Koldo Gil asked expressed a wish for a more tranquil stage after today's competition. Results 1 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 2 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Saunier Duval - SCOTT 3 Gonzalo Rabuñal Ríos (Spa) Karpin Galicia 4 Nikita Eskov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems 5 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Orbea - Oreka S.D.A. 6 Koldo Gil Perez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 7 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) LA MSS 8 Xavier Tondo Volpini (Spa) LA MSS 9 Bruno Pires (Por) LA MSS 10 José Azevedo (Por) Benfica