BiciRace.com :: 2006 Vuelta a Murcia

2006 Vuelta a Murcia, Stage 5

Vuelta a Murcia, Spain

Stage 5, Murcia - Murcia, 138.7K

5 March

Make it Two for Haussler

The 22 year-old German, Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner), showed all the precocity that won him stage one of the Vuelta a Murcia when he again out sprinted the competition, today it was Ariel Richeze (Panaria-Navigare) and David Muñoz (Comunidad Valenciana). Santos Gonzalez (3 Molinos Resort) kept safe and took the final overall victory of the five-stage race.

The parcours included only one category 3 climb, which finished a good 30 kilometers from the finish. On paper that sounds like a fairly easy stage custom made for a big pack sprint. What complicated things was the gnarly wind that was blowing in from the south virtually bringing the peloton to a crawl.

In spite of the wind, Beñat Albizuri (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Fumiyuki Beppu (Discovery Channel), Alexander Vinokourov (Liberty Seguros-Würth), José Luis Martínez (Comunidad Valenciana) and Francisco José Rafael Martínez (Andalucia-Paul Versan) had a go of it at kilometer 5. Even with over 130K into a strong wind Alexander Vinokourov is not a rider you want to let slip off the front. The peloton, led by 3 Molinos, realized this and promptly neutralized the gruppetto one kilometer later.

Due to the narrow gaps on the GC, the 3 Molinos team of race leader, Santos Gonzalez, had a death grip on the peloton and was quickly neutralizing any and all attacks that attempted to go.

By kilometer 22, however, the break of the day managed to form. In it were David Etxebarria (Liberty Seguros-Würth), Egoi Martínez (Discovery Channel), Julián Sánchez (Comunidad Valenciana), Anton Luengo (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Francisco Pérez (Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears). Speaking Castellano to each other, all five riders managed to work in harmony gaining up to 2'30" by kilometer 80. On the downside of the category 3 Alto de la Plata the escape was totally cooked after having been out in the blustery conditions for 90 kilometers and were brought back into the fold.

To give you an idea of the magnitude of the wind, the peloton was riding at less than 20 kilometers per hour. Because of the danger of the wind the race directors decided that the race would be neutralized with 3 kilometers to go. All riders would receive the same time.

With 1K to go and the race overall having been already decided, the only things up for grabs were the stage victory and the points classification. Kaiku and Andalucia-Paul Versan were leading the charge into the finish. With 500 meters to go the peloton was scorching the roads at 80K per hour. It was the German, Heinrich Haussler, who showed his opponents a clean pair of wheels as he did in the opening stage, making for his third career victory.
- Paco

Results: 3:10'54", 36.679 K/h
1 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner
2 Ariel Richeze (Arg) Panaria-Navigare
3 David Muñoz (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana
4 Rubén Pérez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
5 Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com
6 Beñat Albizuri (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
7 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Kaiku
8 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Lampre-Fondital
9 Theo Eltink (Ned) Rabobank
10 Jesús Del Nero (Spa) 3 Molinos Resort
11 José Luis Carrasco (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
12 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Discovery Channel
13 Ángel Vicioso (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth
14 Nacor Burgos (Spa) Relax-GAM
15 Miguel Rubiano Chávez (Col) Panaria-Navigare
16 Angel Edo (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan
17 Mikel Pradera (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
18 Pedro Luis Marichalar (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan
19 José Cayetano Julià (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
20 Marc De Maar (Ned) Rabobank
21 Aketza Peña (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
22 Ivan Santos (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth
23 Carlos García Quesada (Spa) Unibet.com
24 Ivan Gilmartin (Spa) Kaiku
25 Iván Gutiérrez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
26 Angel Castresana Del Val (Spa) Unibet.com
27 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Discovery Channel
28 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) 3 Molinos Resort
29 Igor Antón (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
30 Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank
31 Sergiy Matveyev (Ukr) Panaria-Navigare
32 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Unibet.com
33 Alberto Losada (Spa) Kaiku
34 Jan Hruska (Cze) 3 Molinos Resort
35 José Luis Martínez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana
36 Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel) Discovery Channel
37 Oscar García-Casarrubios (Spa) Relax-GAM
38 David Bernabeu (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana
39 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
40 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Unibet.com
...

Final GC:
1 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) 3 Molinos Resort 15:33'02"
2 Iván Gutiérrez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 0.03
3 David Bernabeu (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 0.27
4 Jan Hruska (Cze) 3 Molinos Resort 0.32
5 Carlos García Quesada (Spa) Unibet.com 0.39
6 Ángel Vicioso (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth 0.41
7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 1.09
8 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 1.41
9 Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 1.53
10 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Panaria-Navigare 2.01
11 Manuel Beltrán (Spa) Discovery Channel 2.21
12 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Unibet.com 2.26
13 Alberto Losada (Spa) Kaiku 2.48
14 Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel) Discovery Channel 3.10
15 Theo Eltink (Ned) Rabobank 3.27
16 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Lampre-Fondital 3.34
17 Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank 4.16
18 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Unibet.com 4.51
19 Igor Antón (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4.58
20 Francisco Pérez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 5.04
21 Marc De Maar (Ned) Rabobank 5.25
22 Ezequiel Mosquera (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 5.26
23 Trent Lowe (Aus) Discovery Channel 6.26
24 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Lampre-Fondital 6.38
25 Francisco Cabello (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 7.44
26 Jesús Del Nero (Spa) 3 Molinos Resort 7.45
27 José Luis Carrasco (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 7.47
28 Aketza Peña (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 9.41
29 Joseba Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 10.16
30 Ivan Gilmartin (Spa) Kaiku 10.29
31 José Miguel Elías (Spa) Relax-GAM 10.50
32 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
33 Pedro Luis Marichalar (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 11.34
34 Beñat Albizuri (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 13.31
35 Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) Liberty Seguros-Würth 14.03
36 Beat Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 14.53
37 Jaume Rovira (Spa) Andalucia-Paul Versan 15.10
38 Marcos Serrano (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth 16.13
39 Oscar García-Casarrubios (Spa) Relax-GAM 16.23
40 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 16.29
...