Normally an 11th place in a bunch sprint would be nothing to write home about for Oscar Freire from the Dutch Rabobank team. His directors draw hope from it though, as Freire is slowly recovering from the aftermath of a sinus operation. Thursday will provide another chance for the Spaniard to return to the fight for stage glory.
Rabobank's sports director Jan Boven hopes that Freire can continue to improve his form until tomorrow. "Oscar is getting better. We already saw in the past few days that he was going ok. This result confirms it." Boven is now looking ahead for Freire to rub elbows with the top guys again. "Tomorrow's stage has a finish that should suit Oscar, so hopefully he is then again a bit better."
As is custom in the Vuelta, a sprint finish has not necessarily a completely flat run-in. "We only have to wait how he can come over the climb in the finale and how much he has left." The top of the only ranked climb in stage six is only 17 kilometers from the finish. The category two Alto de la Cresta del Gallo is seven kilometers long and has an average gradient of 4.36 percent.
With all the attackers like Philippe Gilbert, Luis León Sánchez or Joaquin Rodriguez in the field, a bunch sprint is far from certain, given the short distance from the top to the finish. But Freire is also someone who can hold his own on such a climb and if he is feeling well enough again, he stands a chance of making the final selection. This may currently leave him with even better chances for victory than in a field sprint.
The important Rabobank riders to help Freire over the climb - Sebastian Langeveld, Mauricio Ardila and Dmitriy Kozontchuk - are also getting better again. "Sebastian and Mauricio were suffering from the heat in the last few stages," Boven said. "Thankfully it became cooler. Boven was happy that everybody did alright in stage five. "Dmitriy mostly lacks a bit of form. That is really not surprising, given that he was out for two months. But he is also getting better."
Today's stage was mostly about saving energy. "Of course we would love to win a stage, but first and foremost we want to get a good overall classification with Denis Menchov," Boven explained. "That's what our team is mostly busy with right now. In a stage like this you already know beforehand that a break doesn't have much of a chance - that can cost a lot of energy, with little to show in return." This is a sign that Rabobank riders won't be showing up in other breaks. "In this heat you have to be careful in how you use your energy."