The Spanish NCs should be considered as one of the most entertaining in the ManGame: 23 teams and 64 riders facing a mountain road race!
Team CSC-Orbea (16 riders/2 teams), Bacardi (7 riders), Barca (7) and Euskaltel (7) as the strongest here.
CSC (Abal/Cobo) and Bacardi (Intxausti) may also be those teams with the pressure to control the race: other favorites like Contador, Valverde, Marquez or Sanchez Gil/Gomez Marchante lack the needed support.
Definitely a field packed with great climbers, so we do have some more potential contenders like Plaza, Anton, Nieve, Moreno and local team Euskaltel's breakaway specialists!
Neither Bacardi nor CSC are to be seen in the first working breakaway attempt:
R Fernandez (Euska)
Gonzalo (Barca)
Terciado (Africa)
G Izagirre (Boeing)
broke clear, but the pace back in the bunch is pretty high and the gap's just at 36" with now 35km remaining!
The group is then allowed a bigger gap soon, though. We're still on the first of three climbs and see another rider attacking:
Txurruka (Bonsucro) launches his move, trying to bridge across the now 1'40"-gap to the breakaway..
He never could establish a notable gap, as the peloton - led by CSC and Bacardi - started chasing soon after his attack.
19km to go and except of Gonzalo, leading by 54" now, all escapees are pulled back by the bunch (34 riders remaining)!
13km remaining and the penultimate climb may offer a chance for the top-favorites already:
Valverde and Marquez were the first big guns to attack!
Contador, Gomez Marchante and Antón now trying to follow, while CSC keeps setting the pace in the "bunch" (9 riders left there)!
Will those favorites blew CSC and Bacardi's tactics/work?
Not yet, at least. CSC really in control with their domestiques De la Fuente/Lloret and also Plaza providing some great work so far.
7km to go and those latest attackers (plus Gonzalo) have all been reeled in by group Intxausti/Abal: 15 riders left in the contention for the victory.
Most notable names being dropped: Cobo, Moreno, Nieve, Txurruka and R Fernandez!
4km to the finish and here go the big guns again:
Contador, Abal and Sanchez Gil attacking as first!
Intxausti, Marquez and Valverde jumping behind quickly..
Contador really pushing now, accelerating again 2.8km before finish! This move really blews the group into pieces:
Abal trying to hang on, Sanchez Gil struggling!
Intxausti, Marquez and Valverde couldn't yet close up and are 23" down on Contador at this point..
They fight back though, going past the struggling Sanchez Gil easily, making for a 4-men-group chasing Contador!
El Pistolero still 23" ahead with now 1.7km to go..
..and still with this notable advantage with just a few hundred metres to climb!
Intxausti now kicking off the sprint out of the chasing group, but this gap looks comfortable for Contador..
..yes, indeed! Contador celebrates early and climbed to a quite dominating victory today. One of the first top-favorites attacking and really keeping the pressure up on the final climb, this is a truly deserved win for sure.
Intxausti runner-up ahead of Marquez and Abal, all finishing about 40 seconds later. CSC won't be happy with that, since them and Bacardi (at least early into the race) did well to control the race here.
So maybe more luck/success for CSC in the flat timetrial then? Abal and Plaza, as well as Intxausti, should be the clear favorites here. They all want to bounce back from missing the road title.
Contador, Sanchez Gil or I Izagirre may be a threat though, since there's no truly outstanding TT-specialist at the start here.
Heavy crosswinds (56kmh) make for a tough day in the saddle. As always the question, whether this will influence the results or not..
Plaza has a very early start (as second on the road) and this is interesting enough. His time will surely be the one to beat today:
1h10'51" - beating his teammates Lloret (53 seconds) and Fraile (56), who also had early starts, easily!
It's obviously a long lasting best time, as all other contenders have a late start.. and this is worth a mention:
the crosswinds now come at 65kmh, so slightly worse conditions than Plaza had!
Sanchez Gil was already a minute slower than Plaza at half-time.. his finish-time is even worse:
+ 1'42" to finish way behind Lloret/Fraile, too!
Also Izagirre's split-times would tell his story today - no chance against Plaza:
+ 1'05" at the finish! Better than LLS, but still behind CSC's leading trio!
Contador wouldn't reapeat his success from the road race, struggling like LLS at the splits and finishing outside the provisional podium, too:
+ 1'15" on Plaza, right behind Izagirre..
The two biggest favorites beside Plaza are yet to come though: Abal as the first of them.
34" slower than his teammate at half-time and also behind Lloret/Fraile at this point!
46" slower at the final split and it's certain, that he had no chance as well:
+ 35" at the finish, so at least making up some ground on the final sector - provisional 2nd!
Will Intxausti break CSC's dominance or even grab the title?
Well, ain't looking good at half-time - just like Abal, he's far off Plaza's best time:
35" slower at this split..
47" at the final split, so in the very same range as Abal..
Obviously no victory, but at least a thrilling fight for the runner-up:
+ 37" at the finish and therefore two seconds off Abal!
Plaza followed the timetrial for quite a long time and probably enjoyed those other favorites missing out on his pace quite clear.
His early start might have been the key here and so CSC went for an impressive 1-2-4-5 with just Intxausti in between the mentioned names!
Spanish NCs should be considered as one of the most entertaining in the ManGame: 23 teams and 64 riders facing a mountain road race!
