Group Sprint in Catalunya
Volta a Catalunya
Stage 5: El Vendrell to Tarragona, 205.8 km/128mi
By Cathy Mehl
After several stages of working and just missing the win, Cofidis rider Samuel Dumoulin got it right to score the victory in stage 5 of the Volta a Catalunya on Friday in Tarragona. Just behind him in the group sprint were Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) and Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel-Euskadi). Team RadioShack’s Levi Leipheimer held fast to his second place on the classification at 23-seconds behind race leader Alberto Contador of Saxo Bank-Sungard. Michele Scarponi of Lampre-ISD) rounds out the podium for GC with two stages remaining to race.
“I was in a good position for the sprint until the last corner,” said yesterday’s stage winner Manuel Cardoso. “But then the guys in front of me stopped pedaling and many guys came from the right so I was blocked. It can happen. That’s sprinting.”
It took awhile, but a four man break went away after 80k of racing. Included in the group were Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Rémi Cusin (Cofidis), Francesco Masciarelli (Astana) and Christopher Froome (Sky). The group held an advantage of more than five minutes with almost 70km to go, but with Masciarelli only two minutes down on the overall, Saxo Bank-Sungard made sure to bring down the gap to protect Contador’s race lead.
“We decided to chase then too,” explained Team Director Viatcheslav Ekimov. “It became dangerous for the GC position of Chris Horner and even Levi. It was the same for Lampre too and they worked for Scarponi.” The break fought hard but were caught with five kilometers to go. A few more attacks ensued but the field came together to the line for the group sprint.
There are two stages remaining to race in the 100th edition of the Volta a Catalunya. Saturday’s stage is 195km from Tarragona to Mollet-del-Valles.
Top Ten Results
1 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 4:49:31
2 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team
3 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
4 Aitor Galdos (Spa) Caja Rural
5 Michal Golas (Pol) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
6 Diego Milán Jiménez (Spa) Caja Rural
7 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
8 Manuel Antonio Leal Cardoso (Por) Team RadioShack
9 Kenny De Haes (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
10 Frantisek Rabon (Cze) HTC-Highroad
Team RadioShack Results
17 Levi Leipheimer (USA)
37 Christopher Horner (USA)
52 Jani Brajkovic (Slo)
58 Ivan Rovny (Rus)
69 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa)
89 Philip Deignan (Irl)
160 Jason McCartney (USA)
General Classification after Stage 5
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 22:28:28
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack 0:00:23
3 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre - ISD
4 Daniel Martin (Irl) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:00:35
5 Christopher Horner (USA) Team RadioShack
6 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling 0:00:38
7 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
8 Xavier Tondo Volpini (Spa) Movistar Team
9 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:50
10 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:01:12
Team RadioShack on General Classification
15 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa)
18 Jani Brajkovic (Slo) 0:01:20
61 Ivan Rovny (Rus) 0:09:01
65 Philip Deignan (Irl)
146 Jason McCartney (USA) 0:31:27
155 Manuel Antonio Leal Cardoso (Por) 0:33:53GET EMAIL UPDATES
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