BiciRace.com :: Vuelta a España

2006 Vuelta a España, Stage 1

Vuelta a España, Spain

Stage 1, Málaga Team TT, 7.3K

26 August

Sastre Leads CSC's Golden Run

Carlos Sastre in gold, photo: © Unipublic

Carlos Sastre starts the 2006 Vuelta a España with the same fast legs he left last year's Vuelta. The Spaniard led home the Danish CSC squadra, who dominated the 7.3 kilometer opening team crono around in Málaga, with a time of 7'36". The time set by Sastre's squadra crushed the previous fast time of Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears, whose time was not too shabby, at 7'43". The CSC Spaniard took the 2006 Vuelta's first Maillot Oro, which he will wear in tomorrow's 176K stage from Málaga to Córdoba.

Team Crono Start Times
Relax-GAM (ESP) 19:12
Lampre-Fondital (ITA) 19:16
Davitamon-Lotto (BEL) 19:20
Phonak (SUI) 19:24
Française Des Jeux (FRA) 19:28
Crédit Agricole (FRA) 19:32
T-Mobile (GER) 19:36
Bouygues Telecom (FRA) 19:40
Liquigas (ITA) 19:44
Ag2R Prévoyance (FRA) 19:48
Cofidis (FRA) 19:52
Milram (ITA) 19:56
Quick-Step (BEL) 20:00
Gerolsteiner (GER) 20:04
Saunier Duval-Prodir (ESP) 20:08
Euskaltel-Euskadi (ESP) 20:12
Discovery Channel (USA) 20:16
Astaná (KAZ) 20:20
Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears (ESP) 20:24
Team CSC (DIN) 20:28
Rabobank (HOL) 20:32

Welcome to the Costa Blanca and the start of the 61st Vuelta a España. Organizers presented the peloton with a straight and flat team crono, run at night, over the southern roads of Spain, in Málaga. It was a perfect way for the riders to blow the cobwebs out of their tanks and settle up the GC before tomorrow's stage 2 run to Córdoba (- hot siesta at high noon).

The Pink Posse held the reins early on in the test. The boys, even without their time trial heavy hitters, posted a time of 7'47". The time was enough to hold off Bouygues Telecom, Liquigas (with Big Backstedt), Ag2R Prévoyance (with Tour-star Dessel) and Cofidis. It was Il Treno Milram who was to stomp the time of T-Mobile by 3".

Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears, photo: YYYY

In what was like a sprint finale, Petacchi's boys were doing a test lead-out. We had Ongarato, Sacchi, Velo and Zabel pushing the gears to the limit to post a time of 7'44", and ho ho ho, that held off some strong teams. Teams like Quick-Step, Gerolsteiner, Saunier Duval-Prodir (with Millar), Euskaltel-Euskadi, Discovery Channel (Durango Danielson's mean Disco Machine) and Astaná (Kash and Vino) were unable to match the mark of Milram.

Our hearts felt for Gerolsteiner, who suffered a blow when Davide Rebellin was held up by bike technicalities. One of the most cunning classics riders was having a heck of a time on his American Specialized machine; the Italian went down after a run in with a roundabout.

Tour champion Pereiro, photo: © Unipublic

Spanish-based Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears, with Valverde and Tour champion Pereiro, were blazing down "el camino." What looked like to be the conquest of the night (or, an Aztec machine speeding to the light), the boys posted a time of 7'43", one second faster than Milram. José Vicente Garcia crossed the line first, briefly holding on to the Maillot Oro until the CSC Machine came rolling home to dwarf the posted times.

Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Lars Bak, Fabian Cancellara, Iñigo Cuesta, Marcus Ljungqvist, Stuart O'Grady, Volodimir Gustov and Nicki Sørensen made up for the Giro d'Italia TTT miss to T-Mobile and the lack of a team test in the Tour de France by posting a time seven seconds faster than Caisse and putting team leader, Carlos Sastre, in the number one spot.

Folks, seven seconds over 7300 meters at this level of competition is fast. You have to look all the way down the list, Cofidis over Relax-GAM, to see a similar deficit. CSC stuck it to Caisse and showed the serious intentions of Sastre early in the game. Don't expect the little Spaniard to want to keep the golden jersey for too long; he will be happy to let it go in the next days.

Tomorrow, we face a mostly flat 176K affair from Málaga to Córdoba. Stay Tuned.

Results:
1 Team CSC 7'36", 57'63" K/h
2 Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 0.07
3 Milram 0.08
4 Discovery Channel 0.09
5 T-Mobile 0.11
6 Astaná 0.12
7 Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.13
8 Crédit Agricole
9 Liquigas
10 Quick-Step 0.15
11 Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.18
12 Rabobank
13 Gerolsteiner 0.19
14 Lampre-Fondital 0.21
15 Bouygues Telecom 0.24
16 Davitamon-Lotto 0.25
17 Phonak 0.27
18 Ag2R Prévoyance
19 Française Des Jeux 0.28
20 Cofidis 0.30
21 Relax-GAM 0.37

GC:
1 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 2 Lars Bak (Den) Team CSC 3 Nicki Sørensen (Den) Team CSC 4 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) Team CSC 5 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC 6 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Team CSC 7 Volodimir Gustov (Ukr) Team CSC 8 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC 9 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 10 José Vicente Garcia (Spa) 11 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Caisse 12 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse 13 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse 14 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse 15 David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse 16 Pablo Lastras (Spa) Caisse 17 Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram 18 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Milram 19 Marco Velo (Ita) Milram 20 Volodymyr Dyudya (Ukr) Milram 21 Daniel Becke (Ger) Milram 22 Sebastian Siedler (Ger) Milram 23 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Milram 24 Egoi Martínez (Spa) Discovery Channel 25 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel 26 Benoît Joachim (Lux) Discovery Channel 27 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel 28 Michael Barry (Can) Discovery Channel 29 Tom Danielson (USA) Discovery Channel 30 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Discovery Channel 31 Manuel Beltrán (Spa) Discovery Channel 32 Joan Horrach (Spa) Caisse 33 Bas Giling (Ned) T-Mobile 34 Stephan Schreck (Ger) T-Mobile 35 André Korff (Ger) T-Mobile 36 Scott Davis (Aus) T-Mobile 37 André Greipel (Ger) T-Mobile 38 Thomas Ziegler (Ger) T-Mobile 39 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) T-Mobile 40 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) T-Mobile 41 Daniele Nardello (Ita) T-Mobile 42 Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) Astaná 43 Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) Astaná 44 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astaná 45 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astaná 46 Aaron Kemps (Aus) Astaná 47 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astaná 48 Sergio Paulinho (Por) Astaná 49 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Astaná 50 José Antonio Redondo (Spa) Astaná 51 Francisco José Ventoso (Spa) 52 David Cañada (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 53 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 54 Juan José Cobo (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 55 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval-Prodir 56 José Ange Gomez Marchante 57 David De La Fuente (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 58 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Crédit Agricole 59 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 60 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Crédit Agricole 61 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole 62 Mads Kaggestad (Nor) Crédit Agricole 63 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 64 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Crédit Agricole 65 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Crédit Agricole 66 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 67 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Liquigas 68 Charles Wegelius (GBr) Liquigas 69 Dario Cioni (Ita) Liquigas 70 Luca Paolini (Ita) Liquigas 71 Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita) Liquigas 72 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas 73 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick-Step 74 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick-Step 75 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quick-Step 76 Davide Viganò (Ita) Quick-Step 77 José Antonio Garrido (Spa) Quick-Step 78 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quick-Step 79 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Quick-Step 80 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Quick-Step 81 José Alberto Benítez (Spa) 82 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Discovery Channel 83 Igor Antón (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 84 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 85 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 86 Samuel Sánchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 87 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 88 Iñaki Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 89 Rubén Pérez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 90 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 91 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 92 Pedro Horrillo (Spa) Rabobank 93 Mauricio Ardila Cano (Col) Rabobank 94 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 95 Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank 96 Theo Eltink (Ned) Rabobank 97 William Walker (Aus) Rabobank 98 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 99 Joaquím Rodríguez (Spa) 100 Andrea Moletta (Ita) Gerolsteiner 101 Torsten Hiekmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner 102 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 103 René Haselbacher (Aut) Gerolsteiner 104 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 105 Sven Montgomery (Swi) Gerolsteiner 106 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 107 David Loosli (Swi) Lampre-Fondital 108 Evgeni Petrov (Rus) Lampre-Fondital 109 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Lampre-Fondital 110 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 111 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 112 Marco Marzano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 113 Francesco Failli (Ita) Liquigas 114 Dario Andriotto (Ita) Liquigas 115 Iñigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 116 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 117 Franck Renier (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 118 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 119 Rony Martias (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 120 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Bouygues Telecom 121 Walter Bénéteau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 122 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 123 Chris Horner (USA) Davitamon-Lotto 124 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 125 Josep Jufré (Spa) Davitamon-Lotto 126 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Davitamon-Lotto 127 Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 128 Pierre Drancourt (Bel) Bouygues Telecom 129 Uros Murn (Slo) Phonak 130 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Phonak 131 Miguel Angel Perdiguero (Spa) Phonak 132 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Phonak 133 Steve Morabito (Swi) Phonak 134 Steve Zampieri (Swi) Phonak 135 Luis Fernández (Spa) Phonak 136 Florian Stalder (Swi) Phonak 137 Hubert Dupont (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance 138 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Ag2R Prévoyance 139 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance 140 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance 141 Iñigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R Prévoyance 142 José Luis Arrieta (Spa) Ag2R Prévoyance 143 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2R Prévoyance 144 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance 145 David Navas (Spa) Ag2R Prévoyance 146 Frédéric Finot (Fra) Française Des Jeux 147 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française Des Jeux 148 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Française Des Jeux 149 Christophe Detilloux (Bel) Française Des Jeux 150 Eric Leblacher (Fra) Française Des Jeux 151 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Française Des Jeux 152 Aketza Peña (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 153 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Phonak 154 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis 155 Sébastien Minard (Fra) Cofidis 156 Hervé Duclos-Lassalle (Fra) Cofidis 157 Luis Pérez (Spa) Cofidis 158 Bingen Fernández (Spa) Cofidis 159 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis 160 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Cofidis 161 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 162 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 163 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Milram 164 Fabien Patanchon (Fra) Française Des Jeux 165 Wim De Vocht (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 166 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 167 Bart Dockx (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 168 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Française Des Jeux 169 Mario De Sárraga (Spa) Relax-GAM 170 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Relax-GAM 171 Jorge García (Spa) Relax-GAM 172 Ángel Vallejo (Spa) Relax-GAM 173 Jesús Hernández (Spa) Relax-GAM 174 Nacor Burgos (Spa) Relax-GAM 175 José Miguel Elías (Spa) Relax-GAM 176 Raul García de Mateo (Spa) Relax-GAM 177 Ian McLeod (RSA) Française Des Jeux 178 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 179 Kjell Carlström (Fin) Liquigas 180 Ángel Gómez Gómez (Spa) 181 Alberto Ongarato (Ita) Milram 182 Christophe Kern (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 183 Addy Engels (Ned) Quick-Step 184 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 185 David George (RSA) Relax-GAM 186 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Cofidis 187 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis 188 Marcel Strauss (Swi) Gerolsteiner 189 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 7.36

0.04
Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 0.07
d'Epargne-Illes Balears
d'Epargne-Illes Balears
d'Epargne-Illes Balears
d'Epargne-Illes Balears
d'Epargne-Illes Balears
d'Epargne-Illes Balears
0.08

0.09

d'Epargne-Illes Balears 0.10
0.11

0.12

Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.13

(Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir

0.15

Saunier Duval-Prodir
0.16
0.18

Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
0.19

0.21

0.22

0.24

0.25

0.26
0.27

0.28

0.29

0.30

0.33

0.34
0.36

0.37

0.38
0.40
0.41
Saunier Duval-Prodir
0.44
0.51
0.54
0.55
1.08
1.13
1.22
2.50