Opening note: It's worth saying that I really never have heard about 95 % of the riders participating in this race. And some of the ones I've heard of, I don't really know much about. Also, I'm not really into most of the Continental Tour-teams, meaning that I don't know their strengths and weaknesses. So, I'm very sorry if I sound stupid at times
Anyway, here we go. The first stage of Vuelta Ciclistica al Peru is a completely pancake-flat stage of just 80 kilometers. And I really mean 'flat'. There's not even a single hill - or a bump - on the road. Therefore, this stage is perfect for sprinters and for breakaways. After all, this is just 80 kilometers, and even a 50 in every stat-guy should be able to finish this stage without too much trouble. The GC-contenders will just have to hold on, but as said, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.
But let's get going. Not very surprisingly, a bunch of people decided to attack on the very first kilometers. One of these guys were Lance Armstrong of the 'Disco'-team, and he was soon counter-attacked by his main rivals, Prudhomme and Pat McQuaid. I guess SN has been having a fun time when making the DB... That said, let's get back to the serious business. Along with them, some "real" riders followed: Azevedo (Wiggle), Belmokhtar (Gatorade B), Lewis (Slipstream) and Wolf (Slipstream B). They soon established a gap of 2'26 minutes to the P with 50 km to go.
Of course, this wasn't to everyone's liking, and that included Fed Ex, who have pre-race favourite Tom Danielson in its line-up for this race, which made a few riders go to front and set the pace. They were supported by White Bear Steyr, and it didn't take long for the two teams together to reel in the escapers. With 30 km to go, it was over. And soon, Armstrong, Prudhomme and McQuaid could talk about 'old times' together after having been dropped from the peloton.
This meant that the teams could start early with setting up their teams for the sprint. I didn't really know who to look out for, but I did notice that Slipstream B were setting up a train for the Austrian guy Summer, Gatto of Fed-Ex B were right behind him. I also noticed Brammeier (British Airways) in front with Sonnery right behind him. These two riders were placed behind the two Suzuki-riders, one of them being Fauw, which were leading the sprint train. Anyway, with 2.5 km to go, the sprint started.
The Suzuki-guy leading out for Fauw quickly gave up and let Fauw sprint from far out. Brammeier lost the wheel of Fauw causing problems for the rest of the train, and instead it was Sonnery and Fauw who were going to contest for the victory.
Fauw couldn't keep up with Sonnery, though, and the poor lead-out ended up costing him the victory. Therefore, Sonnery of White Bear Steyr, who had been helping with reeling in the breakaway, took a rather easy victory ahead of Fauw and A. Wadecki who I didn't notice at all.
