Tour of Murcia

Stage 2: Calasparra to Caravaca de la Cruz, 169.8km/105mi

By Cathy Mehl

Robbie Hunter (Garmin) took a second sprint win in as many days and retained the leader’s jersey for another day.  Second went to Graeme Brown (Rabobank) and Vicente Reynes of HTC-Columbia.   The Shack’s Daryl Impey was again in the thick of the action, taking 10^th on the stage and keeping his 5^th spot on the GC. A protest filed by Brown against Hunter’s sprint-line was thrown out and the South African rider was awarded the victory.

After the race Lance Armstrong noted the large support he’s received from the fans on the roadside, tweeting “Muchas gracias to the people for the support here.  I must say though, I’m a little surprised by it!”  Prior to the race Lance commented that despite being in Contador country he has felt plenty of support.  “It’s nice.  I’ve raced a lot in Spain, almost 20 years, even in my amateur period.  Maybe the people have an appreciation for that.  They like the riders.  Indurain was like a god for them.  Contador is the same way and he deserves it.  I just stay quiet and let them cheer for who they wanna cheer for and try to avoid the drama!”  He was reminded that last year’s crash was in March, in Spain… “That could have been anywhere.  In any country.  The key is don’t stay in the back.”

A peloton of 109 riders rolled out of south-eastern Spain on Thursday for the second stage of the 30^th Tour of Murcia.  Temperatures ranged near 72F/22C but it was windy once again on course.  Several groups attempted breaks off the front but each group had too many riders to stay away. Team RadioShack’s Gregy Rast and Jason McCartney were part of a later escape group that managed to establish a gap of over a minute, but with no representative of their own in the front, Team Sky moved to the front to bring back the effort, hoping to bring Bradley Wiggins to the line. Near 40km to go the group was caught by Team Sky on the second time over the climb of the Alto de San Juan.    Sergeuy Lagutin of Vacansoleil managed to breakaway just as the group was being caught and rode solo toward Caravaca de la Cruz.  Garmin charged after him with the catch finally coming at 5km to the finish, setting up a mass sprint for the second day in a row.

Earlier in the day Lance commented on his condition from Stage 1: “I suffered a bit yesterday.  The tempo in the peloton was high and it was windy.  In the end we did 60-70km an hour.  You can’t simulate that in training.”

Team Note:  Anything sound familiar about the start town Calasparra?  It just might if you’ve followed the team for awhile. Our own Chechu Rubiera won Stage 2 in the Tour of Murcia in 2008 which started from Calasparra to Totana. 

Top Ten Results

1        Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin-Transitions           4:20:12        

2        Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank                  

3        Vicente Reynes (Spa) Team HTC-Columbia                   

4        Alexander Blain (GBr) Endura Racing                  

5        Daniel Schorn (Ger) Team NetApp            

6        Frantisek Rabon (Cze) Team HTC-Columbia                 

7        Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin-Transitions              

8        Ian Wilkinson (GBr) Endura Racing                     

9        Josep Jufré (Spa) Astana                   

10      Daryl Impey (RSA) Team RadioShack

Team RadioShack on Stage 2

34      Andreas Klöden (Ger) 0:00:05                     

35      Lance Armstrong (USA)                    

36      Gregory Rast (Swi)

40      Haimar Zubeldia (Spa)

57      José Luis Rubiera (Spa)

63      Jason Mccartney (USA)

General Classification after Stage 2

1        Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin - Transitions         8:35:52        

2        Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank                  

3        Vicente Reynes (Spa) Team HTC - Columbia                 

4        Daniel Schorn (Aut) Team Netapp              

5        Daryl Impey (RSA) Team Radioshack                  

6        Ian Wilkilson (GBr) Endura Racing            

7        Michal Golas (Pol) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team                   

8        Alexandre Blain (Fra) Endura Racing                   

9        Josep Jufre (Spa) Astana                   

10      Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Milram

Team RadioShack on General Classification

28      Andreas Klöden (Ger) 0:00:05                     

29      Gregory Rast (Swi)

32      Lance Armstrong (USA)

37      Haimar Zubeldia (Spa)

42      José Luis Rubiera (Spa)

44      Jason Mccartney (USA)

Photo courtesy of Graham Watson