He may have the possibility of a UCI appeal hanging over him but Alberto Contador kept his mind on the job today when he raced to a clear stage victory on day three of the Volta a Catalunay. The Spanish rider stormed clear on the final climb up to the ski station at Vallnord in Andorra, being briefly held by former team-mate Levi Leipheimer before dropping the Team RadioShack rider and soloing home.
Michele Scarponi (Lampre - ISD) joined Leipheimer and would edge out the American for second, 23 seconds behind Contador, while the young Irish climber Daniel Martin (Team Garmin-Cervelo) was a further 12 seconds back in fourth. He finished just ahead of Leipheimer’s team-mate Chris Horner and Alex Cano Ardila (Colombia Es Pasion - Cafe De Colombia).
“My team has done an outstanding job from km one, we have taken the responsibility because we knew that nobody was going to help,” he said, referring to his status as race favourite. “I am very happy, because it is a complex climb and you have to know how the air blows. At five kilometres to go there were still 50 riders and I knew that there was the hardest part, so I attacked. Then Leipheimer came back and I attacked again until I reached the finish line”.
The time gained meant that he ends the day 23 seconds ahead of Leipheimer and Scarponi and 35 up on Martin and Horner. Given that the climb was not at steep as those he normally prefers, he was glad with the gains. “I didn’t expect to open these differences”, he admitted.
Scarponi showed his strength and good form in Milan-Sanremo and was runner up today. He said that he was fine with the result. “I'm quite satisfied for the second place…no regrets for having been preceded by such a champion as Contador. Alberto was very strong today and I was a little bit less competitive than what I thought.
“When Contador attacked, I pedalled at a regular pace. Then I tried to reduce the gap, but I could not achieve this.”
Tough day on mountainous terrain:
It was a difficult day for all the riders, but particularly so for the overnight leader Gatis Smukulis (HTC-Highroad). He cracked on the mountainous roads and finished back in 129th place, 16 minutes 55 seconds behind.
The big race leader was always going to have a difficult day due to his physique, but the pressure was on from the start with the first category ascent of Alt De Coubet coming very soon after the drop of the flag. Last year’s Tour de l’Avenir winner Nairo Quintana Rojas decided to show his strength from the off and scurried clear. The Colombia Es Pasion - Cafe De Colombia rider was then joined by Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank Cycling Team) near the summit.
The leading duo increased to four when Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Sébastien Minard (AG2R La Mondiale) bridged 25 kilometres into the stage, and soon afterwards to six with Jose Vicente Toribio (Andalucia Caja Granada) and Thomas Peterson (Garmin-Cervelo) also joining up.
They worked well for a while, building a lead of nearly eight minutes, but the tough terrain saw the group splinter. On the category one Alto De La Comella, Quintana Rojas set off alone to grab the mountain points before the bunch reeled them all in.
From there the focus turned to the general classification battle and Contador’s Saxo Bank-SunGard team took control. Daniel Navarro Garcia, Chris Anker Sörensen led their team leader across the summit of the Alt De La Massana, then on the final climb of the Coll De Pal, Contador himself took over.
He surged clear five kilometres from the summit and while Leipheimer briefly went with him, he was subsequently distanced and picked up by Scarponi. They then finished 23 seconds back.
Contador now leads the duo by the same margin, with Martin and Horner 35 seconds back. Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale), Rigoberto Uran (Sky Procycling) and Xavier Tondo (Movistar Team) were a further three seconds in arrears and are now seventh, sixth and eighth overall, with 2009 world champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) ninth.
Contador has clocked up his fourth victory of the season and would like to take the overall classification. Today’s stage was the hardest of the race, but he’s taking nothing for granted. He said that he would try to “keep the jersey because it is a very important race, has a great reputation and I haven’t got it in my palmares. It will be difficult, though, because we still have four days remaining and a lot of kilometres”.
He added that the performance reassured him heading towards the Giro d’Italia.
Scarponi will also ride the Italian tour, and is determined to try to make a point in the Catalan event. He said that he’s not giving up. “The Volta a Catalunya has not yet ended. We'll try to do something in the next days: with outstanding team mates like mine, I can aim to obtain good results.”
The WorldTour race continues tomorrow with a flatter 198 kilometre stage to Vendrell.