Quicker of late than Thor Hushovd, Garmin-Transitions sprinter Tyler Farrar was left rueing what was a missed chance for a stage win plus the points jersey on yesterday’s sixth stage of the Vuelta a España.
Farrar had proved quickest on Wednesday’s fifth stage to Lorca, cooly biding his time when Mark Cavendish went too early, then nipping around the Manxman and holding off a late charge by Koldo Fernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) to win.
That left him level with Fernandez’s team-mate Igor Anton in the points classification, yet the jersey went to the Basque rider on countback.
Prior to yesterday’s final climb, Farrar’s odds of fighting for stage success were looking good. Not only that, with several key rivals such as Cavendish set to finish far back, he could have opened a strong lead in the points competition.
Instead, bad luck intervened and messed everything up for the team. “We were planning for Tyler again in the sprint, knowing he could get over it [the climb] with the [other] sprinters,” said Johnny Weltz, directeur sportif.
“He did just that but a flat tire destroyed his chances as the team cars were far back due to the gaps created on the climb. There was no possibility for him to regain first group in such a short distance.”
Eventual stage winner Hushovd was gapped going over the top of the climb, but he and others had enough strength left to return to the leaders. Farrar would have hoped to have done the same, but instead he cracked and finished in a group over four minutes back.
He is now six points behind race leader Philippe Gilbert in the points classification. Today’s stage to Orihuela is lumpy but a bunch sprint is certainly possible; Farrar, and Garmin Transitions, will try again.
The team is also concentrating on Tom Danielson in the race. He is currently sixteenth overall, one minute 21 seconds behind Gilbert. The climber should advance once the race hits the big mountains.