August 20/12 15:14 pm - Vuelta a Espana - Stage 3

Posted by Editoress on 08/20/12
 

Top four emerge at Arrate, Valverde takes the lead

Rollin in break

Alejandro Valverde took over the lead of the 67th Vuelta a España from his team-mate Jonathan Castroviejo by winning the third stage, from Faustino V to Eibar. The top four GC contenders emerged on the climb of Arrate with Valverde, Joaquim Rodriguez and Chris Froome being the only riders able to follow the five attacks launched by race favourite Alberto Contador. The battle for time bonus' went in favour of Froome over Contador this time as the Brittook four seconds for finishing third while the Spaniard remained empty handed after arriving in fourth place.

Contador, however, knows his adversaries better after the 5.5 kilometres of climbing to Arrate. John Gadret (AG2R-La Mondiale), Maxime Monfort (RadioShack-Nissan), Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Denis Menchov (Katusha) have shown their limits. On the other hand, Igor Anton (Euskaltel), Nicolas Roche (AG2R-La Mondiale), Eros Capecchi (Liquigas-Cannondale), Daniel Moreno (Katusha), Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp),
Robert Gesink and Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) got confirmation that they can fight for the top ten overall.

The revelation of the day was the Colombian rookie Winner Anacona (Lampre-ISD) who finished with the challengers, only six seconds behind Valverde. Eight riders formed the breakaway of the day with a maximum lead of 4.20: Sergio Carrasco (Andalucia), Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Dominique Rollin (FDJ-BigMat), Nico Sijmens (Cofdis), Andrey Zeits (Astana), Christophe Riblon (AG2R-La Mondiale), Markel Irizar (RadioShack-Nissan) and Pim Lightart (Vacnasoleil-DCM) who passed the first three climbs ahead of his companions and therefore took the polka dot jersey in Eibar. Basque fans gave a warm welcome to the Vuelta and enjoyed a very exciting race.