Welcome to the Spanish champs
Valverde isn't here meaning the favourites are Sanchez Gonzalez, Sanchez Gil and Rodriguez Oliver but without a clear strong team we may well see a surprise victor.
We have a break of 4. Duenas, Salgueiro, Martinez de Esteban and Reynes
Which goes up to 10 with the addition of Sevilla, Ortega, Nozal, Redondo, Tendero and Rodriguez Segarra
with 110km to go we get attacks from Zaballa, Mercado, Ventoso, Perez Fernandez and Plaza who quickly bridge up
the peleton is still only 2'30" back though
90km to go and Moreno and Lopez Garcia attack, the gap between the peleton and the break is 4 minutes
50km to go and the gap is up to 9 minutes so we will probably see a surprise winner
Moreno and Lopez are now 2'28" behind the break
Up the penultimate hill and Reynes and Tendero have to let go as the peleton is now over 10 min back
20km left and the favourites are now Mercado, Ventoso, Arroyo, Plaza and Zaballa
Festina have started chasing flat out but the gap is still at 9 minutes so it's a case of too little too late
and Sevilla attacks from the break
Perez Fernandez and Arroyo go after him
12km to go and Perez Fernandez and Arroyo have 25 seconds on Sevilla and 43 on the rest of the break
10.5km left and Sevilla is caught, the other 2 still have 30 seconds
They hit the final hill with a 35 second lead
5km left and Perez Fernandez is struggling to keep up.
and the other riders are almost upon him
4km to go and Perez Fernandez is caught while Arroyo still has a good lead
Zaballa is pulling in Arroyo but the finish is in sight
and Zaballa starts sprinting to close the gap, Mercado and Plaza are just behind him
1km to go and Arroyo is almost caught, Mercado is pulling level with Zaballa now
Arroyo digs deep as Mercado closes in
but with 500m to go Mercado takes the lead
They close on the finish line
and Mercado takes victory
Zaballa 2nd, Arroyo holds 3rd with Plaza 4th
Redondo 5th and Martinez de Esteban 6th
before Nozal Duenas, Ventoso and Perez Fernandez round out the top 10
Lopez Garcia, Rodriguez Oliver and Sanchez Gonzalez are the first non-break riders a 6 minutes back
So the new champion of Spain is Mercado who stayed fairly anonymous until about 1km to go where he burst past all the riders who had wasted energy earlier up the climb
Results:
1
Juan Miguel Mercado
Team Energie - Diesel
4h57'10
2
Constantino Zaballa
SIC Radical - Timberland
+ 8
3
David Arroyo
Domina Vacanze
s.t.
4
Rubén Plaza
Virgin Media - Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
5
José Antonio Redondo
Virgin Media - Caisse d'Epargne
+ 1'26
6
Egoi Martínez de Esteban
Philips - Hummel
s.t.
7
Isidro Nozal
Team NOS
+ 1'39
8
Moises Dueñas
Crédit Lyonnais
s.t.
9
Francisco Ventoso
Santander
s.t.
10
Santiago Perez Fernandez
Accumalux-Huez
s.t.
11
Enrique Salgueiro
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
+ 2'44
12
Oscar Sevilla
Team Energie - Diesel
+ 3'32
13
Rafael Rodríguez Segarra
La Gazzetta dello Sport
+ 3'40
14
Didac Ortega
Santander
s.t.
15
David López Garcia
Virgin Media - Caisse d'Epargne
+ 5'45
16
Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver
Virgin Media - Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
17
Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez
Festina - Seiko
s.t.
18
Koldo Gil
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
+ 5'58
19
Luis Leon Sanchez Gil
Rabobank
s.t.
20
Carlos Barredo
Warner Brothers
s.t.
21
Juan José Cobo
Unicef RT
s.t.
22
David De la Fuente
La Gazzetta dello Sport
+ 6'24
23
Daniel Moreno
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
+ 6'52
24
Ruben Elvira Lobato
SIC Radical - Timberland
s.t.
25
David Abal
Crédit Lyonnais
s.t.
26
Jesus Tendero
Nespresso - SportZone
+ 7'45
27
Haimar Zubeldia
Domina Vacanze
+ 8'07
28
Iban Mayo
Festina - Seiko
+ 8'27
29
Carlos Castaño
Festina - Seiko
+ 8'35
30
Carlos Sastre
Warner Brothers
s.t.
31
Igor Astarloa
Team Energie - Diesel
s.t.
32
Manuel Lloret
Team Olympus AirAsia - Presented by Petronas
+ 8'51
33
Vicente Reynès
Eurosport
s.t.
34
José Angel Gomez Marchante
Eurosport
s.t.
35
José Ivan Gutiérrez Palacios
Nespresso - SportZone
+ 9'19
36
Jaume Rovira
Team Olympus AirAsia - Presented by Petronas
s.t.
37
Alberto Contador
Festina - Seiko
s.t.
38
Francisco Perez Sanchez
Lipton Ice Tea
s.t.
39
Francisco Mancebo
Eurosport
s.t.
40
Angel Vicioso
Team Energie - Diesel
s.t.
41
Igor Antón
Virgin Media - Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
42
José Antonio Pecharroman
Philips - Hummel
s.t.
43
Antonio Colom Mas
Team Energie - Diesel
s.t.
44
Eduardo Gonzalo
Santander
s.t.
45
Sergio Pardilla
Team Energie - Diesel
+ 9'49
46
Óscar Pereiro Sio
Eurosport
+ 10'09
47
Beñat Intxausti
Accumalux-Huez
s.t.
48
Florentino Marquez
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
s.t.
49
Gustavo Veloso
Team Energie - Diesel
s.t.
50
Iker Camaño
Lipton Ice Tea
s.t.
51
Juan Manuel Gárate
Santander
s.t.
52
Luis Pasamontes
Team Olympus AirAsia - Presented by Petronas
s.t.
53
Justo Tenorio
Santander
s.t.
54
Ricardo Serrano
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
55
Patxi Vila
Unicef RT
s.t.
56
Francisco José Pacheco
Nespresso - SportZone
s.t.
57
Jordi Grau
Rabobank
s.t.
58
Oscar Freire
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
59
Angel Madrazo
Santander
+ 10'53
60
Juan-Antonio Flecha
Warner Brothers
s.t.
61
Francisco José Terciado
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
+ 11'15
62
Hector Duenas Nevado
Lipton Ice Tea
s.t.
63
Diego Gallego
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
s.t.
64
Jesus Del Nero
Santander
+ 11'45
65
Dionisio Galparsoro
Santander
+ 12'37
66
Jorge Nogaledo
Team Energie - Diesel
s.t.
67
Egoitz Murgoitio
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
s.t.
68
José Antonio Baños Ballester
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
69
Gonzalo Rabuñal
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
70
Alberto Rodriguez Oliver
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
71
Juan José Oroz
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
72
Manuel Ortega
THE CONTROL TEAM
+ 14'55
73
David Belda
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
+ 16'37
74
Javier Aramendía
Team NOS
+ 17'01
75
Aitor Perez Arrieta
Santander
+ 17'41
76
Juan Carlos Fernández Mora
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
77
Pablo Urtasun
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
+ 19'57
78
Koldo Fernandez
Domina Vacanze
+ 20'45
79
Victor Gomes Colinas
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
s.t.
80
Eloy Teruel
Team Energie - Diesel
+ 21'57
81
Saulo Lay
Nespresso - SportZone
s.t.
[url=www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=33182]Team Santander Media Thread[/url]