THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Bennati, Menchov reign in Spain
After three long weeks of sometimes exciting racing, the remaining 145 riders rolled into a festive welcome in the heart of downtown Madrid to conclude the 2007 Vuelta a España with an exhilarating finishing sprint.
Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) used his lethal bike stab to hold off Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) to win his third stage in Sunday’s final romp into Madrid and bring an end to the season’s final grand tour.
Bennati won the final stage at the Tour de France on the Champs-Elysées and the final stage of the Vuelta on the Paseo de la Castellana. The Italian sprinter also earned the points jersey.
“I am happiest with the three victories. This jersey is very important because it means that you’re consistent throughout the entire race. I won at Paris, now I am here,” said Bennati, who was not selected for next weekend’s world championships. “This is a message that I send to Ballerini that I should be in the world’s. I won’t think anymore about the world’s, and I doubt I will watch it on TV.”
Denis Menchov claimed his second Vuelta crown in three years, but this time he won it outright, on the road. Menchov inherited the 2005 crown after Roberto Heras tested positive for EPO.
The 29-year-old Rabobank captain never suffered a bad day and easily fended off attacks from a stubborn Carlos Sastre (CSC) and Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), who finished second and third, respectively.
“It will be special to be able to enjoy the podium with my teammates, something I didn’t have in 2005,” Menchov said. “The truth is I never had a bad day and the legs responded in the most important days. This is the most important race I’ve won so far in my career, so I suppose it is my best moment.”
Menchov was never really challenged throughout a 21-stage route roundly criticized by most as not being hard enough.
“This Vuelta really lacked hard stages. There’s not much a rider of my characteristics can do when the entire peloton of 150 riders arrives at the bottom of the final climb all together,” Sastre complained. “This Vuelta really needed a harder mountain stage in the final week.”
The inclusion of a long, Tour de France-length 52km individual time trial in Zaragoza in Stage 9 only helped Menchov’s case. The Russian took plenty of time out of climbers such as Sastre and Sánchez and erased the advantage that compatriot Vladimir Efimkin (Caisse d’Epargne) gained by attacking to victory and the leader’s jersey at Lagos de Covadonga in Stage 4.
Menchov then followed the wheel of the attacking Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval-Prodir) the next day up the Cerler summit finish to take the leader’s jersey for good after a one-day run in gold by Stijn Devolder (Discovery Channel).
Menchov proved his dominance after fending off attacks from Manuel Beltrán (Liquigas), Sánchez and Sastre up the Arcalis climb in Andorra and then sprinted to victory.
With his lead intact, all he had to do was follow the wheels all the way to Madrid.
“Things didn’t go as I had hoped in the Tour and a few days after the stage of Briancon, I started to think about the Vuelta,” Menchov said. “I knew coming here I had good legs and I wanted to take advantage of my fitness to try to win.”
Menchov dominated the race, claiming the climber’s and combined jerseys to go along with the golden jersey. The only jersey he didn’t win was the points jersey, taken by Bennati (Menchov was second). Caisse d’Epargne won the team competition.
It looked like foreign riders were going to dominate the Vuelta, with Menchov, Vladimir Efimkin (Caisse d’Epargne) and Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) hogging the top podium spots going into the final weekend. But then CSC and Euskaltel-Euskadi joined forces to preserve Spanish pride.
Sastre tried in vain to attack Menchov, but was able to overcome rivals to climb to second overall for the second time of his career.
“I am happiest that I was able to end this streak of fourth places,” said Sastre, three times fourth in grand tours. “I tried to attack but Menchov proved he was strongest. Then the goal became to finish on the podium.”
Sánchez came alive in the final week, taking victories at Granada, Abantos and Collado Villalba to claim the final podium spot. His third place is Euskaltel-Euskadi’s first podium in a grand tour in 14 years as a team.
“I came here with the goal of finishing on the podium and I was able to achieve that,” Sánchez said. “I don’t think I’ve topped out yet. This year I wanted to improve in the mountains. Next year I can aspire for the victory.”
Evans, meanwhile, just missed becoming the first rider since 2002 to finish on the podium of two grand tours in the same season. Runner-up at the Tour de France, Evans came to the Vuelta to ride into shape for the world championships. After riding well up Lagos de Covadonga in Stage 4, Evans started to believe in his chances for victory.
He wasn’t quite at his best in Zaragoza, but was able to follow the best in the Pyrenees to enter the final weekend in second place overall.
But a concerted effort from CSC and Euskaltel-Euskadi knocked Evans down to third after the climbing stage to Abantos, and then Sánchez took enough time out of Evans to relegate the Aussie to fourth.
“Sure, it’s disappointing. I was so close to a lot of big results this season. Second at the Tour, second at the Dauphiné and now to just miss the Vuelta podium, it’s frustrating,” Evans said. “We came here without a big focus and then I started to feel good, but the Spanish teams ganged up on me. It was like two teams against one rider.”
ProTour teams dominated the race. Only one rider from a continental team – Luis Perez of Andalucia-Cajasur – was able to break the ProTour dominance. The smaller invited teams - Andalucia-Cajasur, Karpin-Galicia and Relax-GAM – continually livened up the race with attacks.
Most attacks were in vain, however. The sprinters dominated the first half of the non-climbing stages, with Oscar Freire (Rabobank) snagging three victories before packing it in for the world’s. Alessandro Petacchi won two stages and Erik Zabel one for Milram.
Three riders won three stages each: Sánchez, Freire and Bennati.
Four Americans started the Vuelta – Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel), Chris Horner (Predictor-Lotto), Christian Vande Velde (CSC) and Jason McCartney (Discovery Channel).
Danielson, winner of a stage last year, crashed midway through the first stage and abandoned.
Vande Velde rode an excellent race, sneaking into breakaways and helping spring a trap on Vladimar Efimkin (Caisse d’Epargne) in the stage to Avila to move Sastre into third.
Horner was key to Evans’ efforts to hunt for the podium.
McCartney won an exciting stage with a well-timed attack out of a breakaway that included such heavy-hitters as Vande Velde, Stefan Schumacher and Jose Garcia.
“I don’t get many chances to win because in most races we come with a big captain for GC and we’re all working for him,” McCartney said. “It was nice to win and it’s to have people see what kind of rider I am.”
The Vuelta also marked the final grand tour by Discovery Channel, which is closing down at the end of the season after failing to find a new title sponsor.
The team arrives in Madrid with just three riders (McCartney, Rubiera and Van Goolen) and was wracked by crashes and illnesses. Janez Brajkovic never recovered from an illness he caught at the Tour of Qinghai Lake in July and abandoned the first week. Egoi Martinez, Sergio Paulihno and Devolder all left early with injuries from crashes. Allan Davis pulled out to save up for the world’s.
The team had the race leader’s jersey for one day with Devolder and won a stage with McCartney. Jurgen Van Goolen fought for the best climber’s jersey and Davis was close to stage victory in the sprints.
“We knew this was our last grand tour and we came here with ambitions, but luck wasn’t with us this time,” said Discovery Channel sport director Dirk Demol. “We walk away satisfied. We wore the jersey and won a stage. A lot of teams leave this Vuelta without doing anything.”
McCartney’s victory came at a good time for the veteran domestique who was deep in the middle of a job search. With the win, his phone started ringing and he was hoping to stay in Europe next year.
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62nd Vuelta a España
Winner: Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) – wins third stage, takes points jersey
Leader: Denis Menchov (Rabobank) – wins Vuelta for second time in three years
Points: Bennati
Climber: Menchov
Combined: Menchov
Team: Caisse d’Epargne
Peloton: 145 riders finish the Vuelta
Final stage
1. Daniele Bennati (I), Lampre, 104.2km in 2:37:27
2. Alessandro Petacchi (I), Milram
3. Aliaksandr Usau (Blr), Ag2r Prevoyance
4. Mark Renshaw (Aus), Crédit Agricole
5. Davide Vigano (I), Quick Step-Innergetic
Final Overall Standings
1. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 80:59:07
2. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 3:31
3. Samuel Sánchez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 3:46
4. Cadel Evans (Aus), Predictor-Lotto, 3:56
5. Ezequiel Mosquera (Sp), Karpin Galicia, 6:34
6. Vladimir Efimkin (Rus), Caisse d'Epargne, 7:07
7. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Caisse d'Epargne, 8:09
8. Igor Antón (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 8:44
9. Manuel Beltrán (Sp), Liquigas, 9:38
10. Carlos Barredo (Sp), Quick Step-Innergetic, 10:12
Full results
