The first edition of Vuelta a la Region de Murcia starts gently, a flat stage, made for the sprinters. Bewley Swift Goss
are the biggest favourites for this opener, but the fast run in to the finish line could give us a surprise or two. Positioning will be extremely important. At least it's sunny, afterall, we're in Spain. It's also interesting that the wind is very strong when the riders start the stage, the weather forecast says it's a strong headwind on the final 40 kilometers, meaning it will be hard to keep a chasing peloton behind. The stage is relatively short, 175 kilometers long, and it contains 3 categorzed climbs, all of them gives 6 - 4 - 2 points to the three first riders over the "summits." Hopefully all these factors mean we are having an entertaining stage ahead of us!
Solis is the first attacker, only after 5 kilometers of racing. His team, Carmeuse - Bouyges Telecom had a decent cobbled season, but they will need to perform in the races that comes now, as they're dangerously close to relegation. He's followed by Kadri Loosli Hampton
It doesn't take long before Navardauskas Martins
try to join them. Also, Duran attacks, following the wheels of Navardauskas and Martins. They join the 4 up front, making it 7 in total, and they quickly start to build a gap.
Just when it looks like the peloton is confident to let the 7 riders break away, Pires
launches an attack. It looks like Cerne are having the wrong man up front, there was absolutely no reason for Pires to attack, as his team mate, Martins, looked confident in the breakaway. Pires is followed by Sokolov Kocjan Østergaard Bontenackels Rodriguez Parra
Vesuvio and Swift clearly didn't like the last move, and they put 5 men to the front. Interestingly, Intxausti is one of the chasers, looks like Vesuvio takes it stage by stage, today's focus is no doubts on winning the stage with Swift.
And after 15 kilometers of strong pacing, they catch the attackers. There's 145 kilometers left of the stage, and we're back to square one.
As expected, it doesn't take long before we have another wave of attacks. 6 men tried their luck, and they have succeeded, having a gap of 1'40 back to the peloton with 136 kilometers to go. The 6 escapers are: Sibila Romero Pavarin Bontenackels Vitoria Kadri Kocjan
Martins and his team, Cerne, is unhappy to not be in the breakaway. He desperately attacks when the peloton is 2 minutes behind. Festina isn't happy with the situation either, and Østergaard quickly follows.
The riders in the breakaway doesn't care about the first KoM sprint. They just roll over it, focusing on building a big advantage over the peloton. Pavarin takes the 6 points though, he's followed by Vitoria Sibila Romero
Martins Østergaard
follows 1'25 behind Pavarin. The peloton is on a decent distance, the front 6 have a lead of 2'45 to the peloton on the first "summit" of the race.
Finally, with 117 kilometers to the finish line, Martins Østergaard
make the catch, meaning we have 8 riders up front, their advantage is now 4'30.
The second KoM sprint looks more important to the riders than what the first did. Pavarin
hits the front 800 meters before the top, and he raises the pace. He pushes hard all the way to the top, and takes another 6 points, meaning he is the provisional leader of the polkadot, with a maximum amount of points. Vitoria Kadri
follows next, especially Vitoria looks like he also wants to wear the KoM jersey tomorrow. They can only hope that they're in front on the last climb aswell, at least it looks promising now. The gap is up to 6'40, and we're having 117 kilometers left.
With 90 kilometers to go, Jack Wolfskin and Sony Ericsson picks up the pace back in the peloton, the gap is 6’20, and it looks like they’re having pretty good control on them. It’s interesting that Gesink has positioned him far behind his team mates, he’s in the last third of the peloton, meaning a split could be decisive for him. The wind is still strong, splits might happen.
With 45 kilometers left of the stage, we have the only intermediate sprint on the stage. It seems like all riders in the breakaway want some glory here, they're sprinting for the 6 bonus seconds. Pavarin is really on fire, taking the sprint and the 6 bonus seconds in addition to his 12 KoM points. Kocjan Vitoria
are 2nd and 3rd, taking some valuable seconds. The gap back to the peloton is 3'50, meaning it could be touch and go, as the 6 last kilometers of the stage is mostly downhill. The weather forecast were right though, a the wind has turned, and the riders are now facing a strong headwind.
With 26 kilometers left, approaching the hardest part of the stage, Del Nero
attacks. He's starting to chase the breakaway riders solo, as they're only 1'26 ahead of him. The peloton doesn't give him much of a gap though, and they are chasing strong, only 40 seconds behind Del Nero.
1.2 kilometers before the final KoM sprint, Vitoria attacks. It looks like the breakaway soon will be caught by the peloton, and Vitoria gives it one last go. But pretty much everyone follows, looks like they all are still dreaming of a victory here.
It's quickly clear that Vitoria is the strongest in the breakaway, he leaves all the others behind, and takes the last KoM sprint of the day. He will also wear the climber's jersey on stage 2, as Pavarin isn't top 3 on this final climb.
Behind, Del Nero has caught the rest of the breakaway, he's 2nd over the top, while Østergaard follows in 3rd. But the peloton is clearly going fast here, they're soon going to catch them all.
And indeed, with 19 kilometers to go the peloton, led by Milka and Vesuvio, catches 6 of the breakaway riders. Only Del Nero and Vitoria are left up front, but they're only 25 seconds behind. Vesuvio and Milka must fancy Swift and Bewley for the stage win. Swift showed early this season that he's a great sprinter, winning a stage and the overall in Tour of Qatar. Bewley also won a stage there, and he finished 2nd overall. Bewley also showed his potential 3 days ago, in Paris - Roubaix. Will he have the legs to challenge a fresh Swift today?
And with 15 kilometers to go, Del Nero and Vitoria are caught. Vitoria is caught with a smile on his face, his strong performance secured him the climber's jersey for tomorrow's stage. Del Nero doesn't look that happy, he was certainly hoping to surprise the sprinters here, with a late attack. But he didn't succeed. The preparations for the sprint can start.
But look at this! Del Nero isn't done, not at all. He attacks again! There's only 8 kilometers left, and his attack looks well timed. They are soon going downhill, and no one was alert to Del Nero's acceleration, and he's on his own, chasing the stage win.
And suddenly, one of the pre-race favourites, Ponzi
attacks. Del Nero's attack looks very dangerous, and Ponzi decides to take matters into his own hands. He's after him.
And with 5 kilometers left, he makes contact with Del Nero. They're downhilling now, trying to hold the distance back to the chasing peloton. It definitely looks promising, their lead is half a minute.
Ponzi's attack forced chaos in the peloton. L. L. Sanchez Bakelants Tenorio
attack, they're desperate to chase back Ponzi. Good move from Tenorio and Santander, marking Sanchez and Bakelants, and possibly giving Santander 2 men to play on for the stage win.
It's 4600 meters left of the stage, and we can't forget the sprinters. They are well positioned, close to the front. Wikipedia uses van Garderen and Phinney as lead out men. Then follows Goss Bewley Bozic Swift Vanoverschelde Ventoso
Santander is really everywhere in the closing kilometers of the stage! But the sprinters will need to launch early, if they're going to catch Del Nero and Ponzi.
With 2000 meters to go, Del Nero is forced to lead out the sprint. Ponzi follows really tight, they both want this win badly. They're still holding a decent gap back to the peloton and the sprinters, will they get seconds on them aswell?
But Wikipedia hasn't given up! The leadout from van Garderen and Phinney is very strong, and they're catching Sanchez, Bakelants and Tenorio just before the sprint starts.
700 meters to go, and Ponzi makes his move. He overtakes Del Nero with ease, will he hold on to the line?
200 meters behind, Bewley launches a strong sprint, he flies past the Wikipedia duo, Phinney and Goss, and he eyes Ponzi and Del Nero in front of him. Will he catch them?
No! Ponzi holds on, and takes the opening stage in Murcia. A surprising winner, but a truly deserved stage win, after his brave attack, only 7 kilometers away from the finish line.
Del Nero manages to hold on to 2nd place, "close but no sigar." Bewley storms home in 3rd.
Goss is 4th, a bit disappointing considering the amazing lead out he got from van Garderen and Phinney. Ventoso makes it 2 Santander riders in top 5, while Bozic, Swift and Vanoverschelde follow next. A fading Phinney takes 9th.
Ponzi and Wiggle can celebrate a surprising yellow jersey. A great win, but they will need to be up for the task tomorrow, as that's when the race might get decided.
