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15.08.2007/ Barloworld's Mauricio Soler won todays second
stage of the Tour of Burgos and is also the new overall leader of the Spanish stage race.
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| Mauricio Soler in Paris (picture: Hein Zwicky) |
The winner of the mounatin classification at this years Tour de France showed an impressive shape by winning the Vuelta a
Burgos Wednesday's 2nd stage, from Areniscas de los Pinares to Lagunas de Neila (149 km), with a steep uphill finish the Colombian
climber exploited to move away from the leading bunch, including Alejandro Valverde and Jose Angel Gomez Marchante, getting
the solo win and taking over the leadership in the overall as well.
Today's race was a hard mountain stage, with 4 KOM before the last uphill section, 10 km up to Lagunas de Neila: no surprise
if only 18 riders were able to be in the leading group at the bottom of the last climb, with Caisse d'Epargne working for
team captain Valverde. The 18 were almost immediately splintered up due to several accelerations, resulting in several small
groups: Soler was one of the main protagonists, attacking first with Gomes Marchante (Saunier Duval) , then with four more
riders, but to no avail. Finally, with just two km to go and a few riders remaining in front, Soler attacked again, and no
one was able to stay in his wake. The Colombian rider soloed to win with a 17" advantage on Castano, enough to take the
lead in the general classification.
Stage 1
The opening stage of the Tour of Burgos was won by 22 year old Russian rider Mikhail Ignatiev (Tinkoff). It was his fourth
victory of the season. With more then 10 km to go Ignatiev went full gas in the cross wind and showed his traditional time-trialing
strength. Ignatiev managed to bring his victory home and never let the bunch coming closer to him than 25 seconds.
The winner of stage 1 told reporters after the race: “To tell the truth, it was perhaps the most unexpected
of all my victories. I’ll tell you why – it so happened that I had to go Spain from Italy by car, I drove
all the way from Marseille into the bargain and went to bed well after two. So it came just natural that the sports director
Orlando Maini told me not to aim to high and listen to my body. But the body said OK right after the start, so I made up my
mind to give it a try. The breakaway didn’t form all of a sudden, it turned out a painstaking business, the pack
almost sucked us in a couple of times. I had only one bottle in the cage ,and the commissaries held back the team cars as
the gap was less than one minute –but in never grew big enough until finally the peloton let us go on the climb
of the day – what a relief to have something to drink! Luckily enough, the weather was mild for this region and
the time of year, there were some clouds above and some breeze to cool off. There were three of us Tinkoff riders in the leading
pack, Steffen Weigold and Toto Commesso did quite a lot for my eventual success, they took powerful pulls whole I stayed in
the wheels for long spans. We mapped it out as follows: I try to break away, if I fail they contest mass sprint in what would
be left of the front pack. I was fortunate to pick the right moment for the attack in the back wind when the speed was high,
and I really felt that I was able to ride alone quicker than with a couple of them even if I had chance to relax for a couple
of moments.
They gave me three jerseys on the podium, so I was at a loss to tell which one was for the general classification: I
also won the young rider’s one and the one for combined classification. Well, it could be a pleasure to dream of
holding on to the overall leadership, but I’d rather be a realist and focus on yet another possible stage victory,
the time-trail hold a special importance for me.”
Results
Stage 1
1 Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems 3.23.26 (42.453 km/h)
2 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Relax - Gam 0.34
3 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
4 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo
5 Carlos Torrent Tarres (Spa) Viña Magna - Cropu
6 Mikel Gaztanaga Echeverria (Spa) Agritubel
7 Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez (Spa) Unibet.com
8 Roberto Traficante (Ita) Team L.P.R.
9 Aurélien Passeron (Fra) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo
10 Ricardo Serrano Gonzalez (Spa) Tinkoff Credit Systems
Stage 2
1 Juan Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 3.50.56 (38.712 km/h)
2 Carlos Castaño Panadero (Spa) Karpin Galicia 0.17
3 José Ángel Gómez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir
4 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Relax - Gam 0.28
5 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.42
6 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval - Prodir 0.49
7 José Miguel Esp Elías Galindo (Spa) Relax - Gam 1.02
8 Moises Duenas Nevado (Spa) Agritubel 1.13
9 David Herrero Llorente (Spa) Karpin Galicia 1.17
10 Jesús Hernández Blázquez (Spa) Relax - Gam 1.38
General Classification after stage 2
1 Juan Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 7.14.56
2 José Ángel Gómez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 0.17
3 Carlos Castaño Panadero (Spa) Karpin Galicia
4 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Relax - Gam 0.28
5 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.42
6 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval - Prodir 0.49
7 José Miguel Esp Elías Galindo (Spa) Relax - Gam 1.02
8 Moises Duenas Nevado (Spa) Agritubel 1.13
9 David Herrero Llorente (Spa) Karpin Galicia 1.17
10 Jesús Hernández Blázquez (Spa) Relax - Gam 1.38
Related stories:
Race reports
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