Lopez takes Veulta stage with breakaway.

//, Garmin, Radio Shack/Lopez takes Veulta stage with breakaway.

Lopez takes Veulta stage with breakaway.

Lopez: Happy underdog.

Who doesn’t like to see a breakaway succeed? It was underdog day at the helta- skelta-Vuelta.

David Lopez (Caisse d’Epargne) managed to shake lose from the rest of the escapados on the descent of the Alto del Revolcat, high tail it across the bridge to Alcoy and keep the legs pumping on the uphill finish.

Twisted Spoke likes guys who launch surprise attacks on downhills instead of the obvious uphills. A sneaky, bold, grab the Vuelta by the cojones move.

“I picked the right time to go alone and I suffered a lot to maintain my advantage until the finish line, but it was worth it,” said Lopez. “In the last kilometre I realized I couldn’t lose. The emotion this win generates is indescribable, I never imagined it could be so intense.”

Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo) rolled in seven seconds later, got off his bike and started kicking himself. Ahh, just kidding but he let a stage win slips away and so did Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha) who finished third.

Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) did his damn best to rip the red jersey off Igor Anton’s back by attacking the finish but the Euskatel rider never let Rodriguez get a gap. Igor is still red and Joaquin is still mad about it.

Our favorite Frenchie, yesterday’s stage winner David Moncoutie, continued to suck up king of mountain points on the six category 2 & 3 climbs.  He’s working on his third Vuelta KOM crown in three years. Chapeau, frenchie climber.

Americano update: Tom and Tejay are still riding high on the GC. Garmin Big Transitions’ Danielson is 14th and Van Garderen of HTC-Columbia is 11th. We’re looking for Tommy D to wreck some havoc in the mountains and praying it actually happens.

Once again, Team Radio Shack was unable to make its presence felt during this Vuelta as none of the Shack riders even finished in the top 185 in today’s stage. Johan Bruyneel was unavailable for comment.

By |2019-02-03T16:24:36-08:00September 5th, 2010|Columbia, Garmin, Radio Shack|2 Comments

About the Author:

2 Comments

  1. rdef September 7, 2010 at 12:14 pm - Reply

    Vuelta or Veulta? At least be consistent.

    • walshworld September 13, 2010 at 9:44 am - Reply

      rdef, there are two Vuelta spellings for a reason: the before sangria spelling of Vuelta and the aftar sanrgia speeling of Veulta. There is a certain internal consistency that must be respected. I suggest you read the posts after sangria and then everything will be fine. Matt

Leave A Comment